How much does planning permission cost in the UK?
A householder planning application costs £548 in England from 1 April 2026. It is £585 in Wales and £371 in Scotland, so the same extension costs about 58 per cent more to apply for in Wales than in Scotland. That is the application on its own. Add the drawings, any structural calculations and building control and the paperwork on a typical extension runs £2,489 to £16,439 before a single brick is laid.
Every other page on this site prices the building work. This one prices the permission, because 43 of our guides tell you that you may need it and none of them used to tell you what it costs. The fees here are statutory, so they are not our estimates: each one is taken from the government source listed at the bottom and dated.
Planning application fees in England 2026
Set nationally, so every English local planning authority charges the same. These apply from 1 April 2026.
| Application type | Fee | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Householder: extension or alteration, one dwelling | £548 | The usual one for an extension, loft or conservatory |
| Householder: two or more dwellings | £1,083 | One application covering more than one home |
| Works in the curtilage: fence, gate, wall, hardstanding | £272 | Only if it needs permission at all |
| Prior approval: larger rear extension | £249 | The neighbour consultation route, not a full application |
| Prior approval with building works | £536 | Where the prior approval also covers building operations |
| Full application: one new dwelling | £610 | Per dwelling, for fewer than 10 |
| Discharge of a condition, householder | £89 | Per request, not per condition |
| Discharge of a condition, anything else | £309 | Per request |
| Non-material amendment, householder | £46 | A small change to a permission you already have |
Statutory fees, England, from 1 April 2026. Source: GOV.UK.
Planning permission cost by nation
The householder fee, meaning an extension or alteration to one home, is the figure most people are looking for. It is the one planning cost that genuinely varies across the UK, and it varies by nation rather than by region.
| Nation | Householder fee | In force from | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | £548 | 1 April 2026 | Uprated every April by the previous September's CPI, capped at 10 per cent. The April 2026 rise was 3.8 per cent. |
| Wales | £585 | 1 December 2025 | Set separately by the Welsh Government, and the dearest of the three. |
| Scotland | £371 | 1 April 2026 | Set by Scottish statutory instrument, and about two thirds of the English fee. |
Northern Ireland runs its own planning system and its own fee schedule, so treat none of the figures above as applying there.
What the paperwork costs on a real extension
The fee is the small part. This is the whole administrative bill on a typical single-storey rear extension in England, with each professional fee taken from our own guide for that trade so the numbers match what we publish elsewhere.
| Item | Typical UK cost |
|---|---|
| Planning application fee, householder | £548 |
| Planning Portal charge, if you apply online there | £91 |
| Drawings, survey to full planning set | £1,200 to £9,000 |
| Structural calculations, if a beam is needed | £0 to £3,000 |
| Building control, plan plus inspections | £650 to £1,300 |
| Party wall agreement, if a shared wall | £0 to £2,500 |
| Paperwork before any building work | £2,489 to £16,439 |
The column adds up: the low end is a project needing drawings and building control but no structural work and no party wall agreement, which is why those two lines start at £0. The fee itself is the smallest item on the list.
Building control fees
A separate approval from planning, and the one most people forget. It applies to plenty of work that needed no planning permission at all, including a loft conversion, a new beam or a rewire.
| Work | Typical UK cost |
|---|---|
| Single-storey extension, up to about 40 m² | £550 to £900 |
| Single-storey extension, 40 to 100 m² | £750 to £1,100 |
| Loft conversion | £500 to £900 |
| Garage conversion | £400 to £750 |
| Internal structural work, one beam | £300 to £600 |
Ranges, not fixed fees. Unlike planning, building control is not set nationally: each council publishes its own scale and private registered building control approvers compete on price, so ask for the plan charge and the inspection charge as two figures.
Pre-application advice fees by council
Most councils charge for advice on a householder project before you apply, and each sets its own price and what it includes, so the note says what each fee buys. Of the 78 councils below, the householder fee runs from £40 to £579.40, and 39 of them charge £186 or less.
| Council | Householder advice |
|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham (London)Online meeting of up to 30 minutes, then a letter; there is no written-only option. | £270 |
| BarnsleyAdvice by meeting or in writing, confirmed in writing. | £70 |
| BedfordDetailed written advice; no meeting for householders. | £393.60 |
| Bexley (London)Written response. | £153 |
| BirminghamWritten advice only. | £166.80 |
| BoltonWritten response, with a review of draft plans. | £85.20 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and PooleWritten advice only, no site visit or meeting. | £180 |
| Brent (London)Written response. | £195.60 |
| Brighton and HoveWritten response only. | £154.50 |
| BristolFixed fee shared with minor developments, no meetings. | £520 |
| Bromley (London)Written advice only. | £250 |
| BuckinghamshireMeeting with a written response; no written-only option. | £579.40 |
| BurySite visit, a meeting if needed, and a letter. | £150 |
| Camden (London)Level 1, for windows and doors, boundaries or one single-storey rear extension or loft conversion. | £481.50 |
| Central BedfordshireWritten response only. | £150 |
| Cheshire West and ChesterFormal written response; informal householder advice is free through the duty planning officer. | £331 |
| CornwallDesktop assessment only. | £200 |
| CoventryWritten advice. | £186 |
| CumberlandLevel 1: the principle and the key planning issues. | £110.40 |
| DerbyA 30-minute design workshop for a single-storey extension or loft conversion. | £200 |
| DorsetWritten advice. | £267 |
| DudleyFirst householder enquiry. | £124.56 |
| DurhamWhether permission and building regulations approval are needed, and whether the proposal is acceptable. | £65 |
| Ealing (London)A 30-minute appointment with verbal advice; there is no written-only option. | £311.40 |
| East Riding of YorkshireLevel 1: desktop assessment and written response. | £300 |
| Hackney (London)Written advice. | £310 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham (London)Written advice. | £452 |
| Haringey (London)Express written advice, no meeting. | £312 |
| Harrow (London)Written response only. | £324.40 |
| Havering (London)Written advice for an extension or alteration. | £229 |
| Hounslow (London)Written response only, no meeting. | £408.44 |
| Islington (London)Written advice only. | £480 |
| Kingston upon Thames (London)Written advice only. | £174 |
| Lambeth (London)Written advice only, for a house or flat outside a conservation area and not listed. | £491 |
| LeedsAdvice letter, with a site visit at the officer's discretion. | £156 |
| LeicesterWritten response only. | £120 |
| Lewisham (London)Brief written advice by email on a simple project. | £142.59 |
| LiverpoolWithout a meeting. | £90 |
| LutonWritten advice. | £240 |
| MedwayA meeting, with a site visit at the officer's discretion; there is no written-only option. | £243 |
| Merton (London)A 15-minute virtual meeting with verbal advice only. | £250 |
| MiddlesbroughWritten advice, from its 2026/27 fees schedule. | £112 |
| Milton KeynesWritten response only, for an extension or alteration. | £360 |
| Newcastle upon TyneWritten advice through its online form. | £100 |
| Newham (London)Written advice, before work starts. | £180 |
| North NorthamptonshireWritten advice only, a desktop assessment. | £187 |
| NorthumberlandWritten response. | £250 |
| NottinghamWritten response only. | £120 |
| OldhamA letter only. | £78 |
| PeterboroughWritten response. | £204 |
| PlymouthIncludes a meeting of up to an hour and written comments. | £195 |
| PortsmouthWritten response, no meeting or site visit. | £40 |
| ReadingWritten advice on a house extension. | £224.40 |
| Richmond upon Thames (London)Written advice, no meeting, for a house that is not listed. | £190 |
| RochdaleWritten advice only. | £180 |
| RotherhamWritten advice only. | £130 |
| SandwellWritten response; meetings carry no fee. | £103.50 |
| ShropshireEmail response on one set of plans. | £168 |
| South TynesideHouseholder planning enquiry form. | £53 |
| Southwark (London)Written advice only. | £317.16 |
| StockportWritten advice only. | £155 |
| Stoke-on-TrentWritten advice, with a meeting where appropriate. | £120 |
| Sutton (London)A meeting, then written advice; no site visit. | £290 |
| SwindonA 30-minute online meeting, then a letter. | £230 |
| TamesideWritten advice only. | £50 |
| Telford and WrekinWritten advice. | £100 |
| Tower Hamlets (London)A letter confirming advice given by a duty planner. | £119 |
| TraffordWritten response on whether the proposal is acceptable. | £528 |
| WalsallWritten advice on an extension or outbuilding. | £187.28 |
| Wandsworth (London)Written advice only, no meeting. | £146 |
| West NorthamptonshireWritten advice only. | £135 |
| Westminster (London)Written advice only, not for a basement. | £504 |
| Westmorland and FurnessOne site visit if needed, and one letter. | £173 |
| WiganWritten response on one set of plans. | £50 |
| WiltshireHouseholder pre-application advice. | £195 |
| WirralWritten response. | £207.60 |
| WolverhamptonA fifth of the national planning fee, so it moves with that fee. | £109.60 |
| YorkA letter, with a meeting or site visit if the officer thinks it needed. | £120 |
From each council's own website, checked October 2026. The cheapest householder option each council lists, as published; most say the fee includes VAT, and councils that quote it excluding VAT are left out. A meeting or site visit usually costs more, and listed buildings and conservation areas often cost more too. Many councils also offer a free duty planner line for quick questions. Most set new fees each April.
Fees are due to change on 8 December 2026
Two separate things push these numbers up. English fees are uprated every April in line with the previous September's CPI, capped at 10 per cent, and the April 2026 rise was 3.8 per cent. Separately, a new national default schedule set at roughly 90 per cent cost recovery for councils is due to take effect on 8 December 2026, subject to Parliamentary approval. On the published figures that would take a householder application to about £575, and discharge of conditions to £125 for householder cases and £435 for everything else. It is not law yet, so the table above is what you pay today. We will update this page when it is.
Worth reading the schedule rather than the headline, because the rises are nothing like even. A householder application goes up about 5 per cent, which is roughly inflation. The charge for discharging a condition, meaning proving to the council that you did what your permission told you to, goes up about 40 per cent for a householder case and 41 per cent for everything else. Those are the fees you meet at the end of a project rather than the start, when the money has already gone.
Where people lose money on this
- Paying the Planning Portal charge without knowing it is optional in some areas. £76 plus VAT, about £91, goes to the Portal and not your council. Ask whether your council takes an application directly.
- Assuming permitted development means no cost. No planning fee, true. Building control usually still applies, and a larger rear extension still needs prior approval at £249.
- Skipping building control to save a few hundred pounds. It surfaces at sale, when the buyer's solicitor asks for the completion certificate and there is not one. Regularising it later costs far more than the original charge.
- Assuming a second application is free. In England it no longer is. The exemption that let you apply again once without paying, after a refusal or a withdrawal, was removed in 2023, so a redesign means paying the full fee again. Talk the design through with the council's planning team before you apply, not after a refusal.
- Treating a refusal as money lost. The fee buys a decision, not a permission, and appealing to the Planning Inspectorate carries no fee of its own.
Frequently asked questions
How much does planning permission cost in the UK?
A householder planning application, which is the one you need for most extensions, loft conversions and conservatories, costs £548 in England from 1 April 2026, £585 in Wales and £371 in Scotland. That is the application fee on its own. The paperwork around it, meaning drawings, any structural calculations and building control, is what turns a £548 fee into £2,489 to £16,439 of admin on a typical extension. Northern Ireland runs its own planning system and its own fee schedule, so treat none of the figures above as applying there.
Is the planning application fee the same everywhere in England?
Yes. The fee is set nationally and every local planning authority in England charges the same £548 for a householder application. A council cannot discount it or add to it. What does vary between councils is building control, which is not a statutory fee, and any optional pre-application advice.
How much does pre-application planning advice cost?
Each council sets its own fee, and it is optional. Of the 78 councils in our table, the cheapest householder option runs from £40 to £579.40, and half of them charge £186 or less. Most fees buy written advice on your plans; some include a meeting or a site visit, and a few councils give verbal advice only. Many councils also run a free duty planner line for a quick question. Paying is most worth it when the design is borderline, because in England a refused application has to be paid for again in full.
Why is there an extra charge on top of the fee when I apply online?
Applying through the Planning Portal adds a service charge of £76 plus VAT, so about £91, on any application with a fee over £100. It is charged from 1 April 2026, it goes to the Planning Portal rather than to your council, and it is separate from the statutory fee. Your council may also accept a paper application or run its own submission system, so it is worth asking before you assume the charge is unavoidable.
Do I pay anything if the work is permitted development?
No. If your project genuinely falls inside permitted development you need no planning application and pay no planning fee. Two things still cost money. A larger rear extension under the neighbour consultation scheme needs prior approval at £249, and most building work still needs building control whether or not it needed planning permission. Many people also pay for a lawful development certificate to have proof, which is optional.
How much does a lawful development certificate cost?
It is priced off the planning fee rather than having a figure of its own. For a use or building work that already exists, the fee is the same as the planning application would have been. For something you are proposing, it is half that. So on a householder project in England you are looking at £548 for an existing one and £274 for a proposed one. It is not required by law, but it is the document a buyer's solicitor asks for, which is why people get one before selling.
What does building control cost, and is it separate from planning?
It is completely separate, and it catches work that never needed planning permission at all. Councils' published charges for a single-storey extension of about 25 m² run about £650 to £1,300 in most of the country and up to about £1,900 in parts of London, and a full plans application is usually split into a plan charge and an inspection charge. Our house extension guide lists the building notice charge for 123 councils. Unlike the planning fee this is not set nationally: each council sets its own scale and private registered building control approvers compete on price, so two quotes for the same job can differ by a few hundred pounds. Ask for the plan charge and the inspection charge separately, because a headline figure sometimes covers only the first.
Is planning permission cheaper if I get refused?
No, the fee buys the decision rather than the permission, and it is not refunded if you are refused. There is no longer a free resubmission in England: regulation 5 of the Town and Country Planning (Fees) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 omitted the exemption that used to give you one further application at no charge, so a resubmission is a second full fee. Appealing to the Planning Inspectorate does not carry a fee either, though a planning consultant to run the appeal for you does.
Are planning fees going up?
Yes, twice over. English fees are uprated every April by the previous September's CPI, capped at 10 per cent, which is where the 1 April 2026 figures came from. On top of that, a new national default schedule set at roughly 90 per cent cost recovery for councils is due to take effect on 8 December 2026, subject to Parliamentary approval, which would take a householder application to about £575 and discharge of conditions to £125 for householder cases and £435 for everything else. Until Parliament approves it, the fees in the table above are the ones you pay.
Planning an extension? The House Extension Planner is a spreadsheet for Excel or Google Sheets that prices the build with the same arithmetic as our extension calculator, adds the architect, structural engineer and party wall costs, and the planning and building control fees for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, then tracks quotes and payments against that budget. Sold on our Etsy shop, with a 14-day refund even after download.
See it on Etsy, £15Official guidance and sources
The rules and schemes referenced on this page come from these official UK sources. The price figures are Costwise's own; see how we price.
- Fees for planning applications GOV.UK · The English fee guidance and the annual indexation rule
- Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026 legislation.gov.uk · The Scottish fees, in force 1 April 2026
- Planning application fees GOV.WALES · The Welsh fee document, applying from 1 December 2025
- Planning circular 1/2026: planning fees GOV.SCOT · How the Scottish fees are applied
These are the published fees as at August 2026, given so you can budget. They are not a planning determination and this is not legal advice: whether your project needs permission at all depends on your property and your area, and only your local planning authority can tell you for certain. Building control figures and professional fees are Costwise guide ranges; see how we price.