The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications)(Scotland) Regulations 1990

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations replace, with amendments, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 1983 and the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1985.

They make provision for the payment of fees to planning authorities in respect of applications made under Part III of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972 for planning permission for development or for approval of matters reserved by an outline planning permission and in respect of applications for consent for the display of advertisements; and for the payment of fees to the Secretary of State in respect of applications for planning permission which are deemed to have been made, by virtue of the provisions of section 85(7) or 91(5) of the 1972 Act, in connection with an appeal against an enforcement notice or in connection with an application for an established use certificate respectively.

The main changes made by these Regulations are–

(a) all fees are increased by approximately 20%;

(b) specific provision for refund of fee is made where the application concerned is found to be invalid (regulation 3(5));

(c) a fee is now required for applications for agricultural buildings removed by virtue of subparagraph (c) in paragraph (1) of class V in Schedule 1 to the General Development Order 1981 from that class (ie buildings exceeding 465 square metres in area for housing pigs, poultry, rabbits or animals held for their skin or fur and any associated structure or excavation for storing slurry or sewage sludge);

(d) an exemption from fees is introduced for applications to consolidate existing mineral working permissions (regulation 9);

(e) exemption from fees for deemed applications is extended (regulation 11(1)(b));

(f) provision for refund of fee is made if it is considered that there was no subject matter to appeal against since the purported enforcement notice had no legal effect (regulation 11(1)(c));

(g) provision for refund of part of the fee, in appropriate cases, where an enforcement notice is varied (regulations 11(2) and 10(4));

(h) a 21 day limit is inserted in regulation 11(3)(a) (repayment of fee on withdrawal of appeal under section 85 or 91 of the 1972 Act);

(i) provision for exemption from fee where an advertisement consent application is made necessary as a consequence of the withdrawal of deemed consent under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984 (regulation 12(7));

(j) paragraph 6 of the Schedule has been expanded from previous provisions to ensure that the concession regarding the submission of several sets of “reserved matters” applications will apply where the sequence of events extends across the date when an increase in fees becomes operative;

(k) a special category of fee for oil and gas exploration is introduced (category 7 in the table in the Schedule).

Regulation 13 revokes the existing Regulations except in relation to applications for planning permission deemed to have been made before the Regulations came into force.