New “affordable” Planning appeal system sees 300% price increase

Thursday 21 January 2016

Planning have quadrupled the price of a new “affordable” appeals system set up just ten months ago.

The price increase, which was imposed via a ministerial decision without an announcement by the Planning department, means the previous price cap of £300 has been raised to £1,200 from the start of this year.

Planning say that they had no choice - and that the extra funding put into keep the scheme cheap has now been withdrawn, under the Medium Term Financial Plan that States Members agreed last year.

They also say that even after the increase, the new appeals system is far cheaper than the previous Royal Court route, which cost tens of thousands of pounds, and left applicants with the prospect of paying the other side's costs if they lost their challenge.

But backbencher Deputy Scott Wickenden has tabled a proposition to reverse the price hike.

In the proposition, which is listed for debate on the 8^th of March, Deputy Wickenden said: “To expect all households to have £1,200 spare expendable cash available at any time is unrealistic.

“It has only been ten months since the fees were introduced, and it was quite clear at the time that the Assembly wanted the fees to be low and affordable.

“At no point did the Minister inform the Assembly of his intention to raise the fees by any amount, nor was there any type of report or media release to inform the public of the changes to the fees.”

The new system came into force last year after States Members voted unanimously in favour of the proposals, including the lower fees.

Before the new appeals system came into force, the only option for people to protest against developments was through the Royal Court – which was expensive and time consuming.

The new system was designed to be cheaper and simpler, and is restricted to people who either live or own property within 50 metres of the development site, or those who have made a written application to Planning in respect of the original application.

Besides returning the fees to the original levels, Deputy Wickenden’s proposal would limit Planning to RPI rises to the fees until the end of 2018.

Planning Director Peter Le Gresley said that even after the increase, the new system was still far cheaper than the previous Royal Court appeal route.

He said: "While the cost of registering an appeal is higher, of course it's many times lower than it would have been to pursue an appeal through the courts which was the previous system. That can run to tens of thousands of pounds.

"And in the Royal Court you could run the risk of losing your appeal and end up paying the other side's costs."