The Government’s proposal to allow councils to set their own planning fees has raised the frightening spectre of Licensing Authorities gaining responsibility for setting licensing fees too.
The Government has made the proposal on planning fees to plug a funding gap estimated by the Local Government Association to be £230 million per year.
In introducing the consultation, Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark said:
Having a system where Whitehall dictates to local councils what planning fees they can charge is very unfair for local taxpayers around the country who are left paying for the shortfall where fees don’t cover costs. Letting councils set their own fees is a much fairer system for both the applicant and the local taxpayer and will ensure there is flexibility in the system to recover the actual costs of applications.
The concern for the licensed trade must be that if this is the Government view on planning fees, then if local councils can make a similar claim that current licensing fees do not cover their costs, then surely the same should apply to the licensing process.
Certainly, the Local Government Association sees it this way. In response to the Government’s proposals on planning, Councillor Gary Porter, Chairman of the LGA’s Environment Board replied:
We have long been calling for councils to be able to set their own prices for these services to ensure that residents get a fair deal … We hope this will be followed by councils being given the full flexibility they need to cover costs for all planning and regulatory services that are tailored to the individual rather than the community. Town halls should be able to set their own charges for licensing applications.
This chimes with many conversations we have had with council Licensing Officers over the past few years who complain that the current licensing fees do not cover their costs or leave them with insufficient resources to properly enforce licensing laws.
Our concern must be that any proposal similar to the one being made on planning will see a return to the bad old days of wildly differing licensing fees as was seen for Public Entertainment Licences. We recall one council who charged £20 per head of occupancy for a PEL!
If the Government’s planning proposals are implemented, councils will be able to set their own planning fees from April 2011. The consultation document can be found here. The closing date for responses is 7 January 2011.
What do you think? Do you believe Licensing Authorities should be able to set their own fees? Why or why not? Please leave your comment below.
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