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 £2,389 to £16,239 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 | £550 to £1,100 |
| Party wall agreement, if a shared wall | £0 to £2,500 |
| Paperwork before any building work | £2,389 to £16,239 |
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 approved inspectors compete on price, so ask for the plan charge and the inspection charge as two figures.
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.
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.
- Not using the free resubmission. One further application for the same development on the same site within 12 months of a decision is normally fee-exempt. Applicants who redesign and pay again often did not need to.
- 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 £2,389 to £16,239 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.
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. Expect £550 to £1,100 for a single-storey extension, usually split into a plan charge and an inspection charge. Unlike the planning fee this is not set nationally: each council sets its own scale and private approved inspectors 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. You do get one free go at resubmitting: a further application for the same development on the same site by the same applicant within 12 months of the first decision is normally exempt from a fee, once. 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.
Official 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.