Consideration was given to recommendation HP 23/37 of the Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee of 14 December 2023 in respect of fees and charges for pre-application advice, building control, high hedges and s106 monitoring fees for 2024/25.
Due regard was given to the views of the Scrutiny Select Committee, financial and value for money considerations and legal implications. It was recognised that fees were set on the basis of cost recovery and/or increased by the baseline rate of the inflation. Cabinet welcomed the benchmarking exercises undertaken against the fees charged by other local authorities in Kent which had been detailed in the report to the Scrutiny Select Committee.
RESOLVED: That
(1) the proposed Pre-application Charging Schedule 2024/25 (attached at Annex 1) be adopted;
(2) the proposed Building Control Fee Schedule 2024/25 (attached at Annex 2) be adopted;
(3) the proposed charging fees for High Hedges (detailed in the Scrutiny Select Committee report) be adopted; and
(4) the proposed charging fees for s106 monitoring, including an update to the Planning Obligations Protocol S106 (detailed in the Scrutiny Select Committee report) be adopted.