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Cutting red tape and saving money for developers to help drive recovery
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"08/03/2010
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The government has announced a package of planning system reforms which it says will save developers ‘time and money’, helping them complete building projects during the recovery.
Businesses that need to extend existing planning permissions to allow more time to build new developments will now pay ‘significantly lower fees’ which, along with other measures to improve the flexibility of planning permissions, will help save up to £69m a year, according to the government.
Planning minister John Healey said: "At a time when funding for new developments is difficult, I have changed the planning rules to give developers longer to build new projects that will help drive economic recovery.
"Now I am able to cut and cap the fee for extending existing planning permissions. As we work to secure a strong economic recovery, we need to do what we can to keep plans for new development on the table. The planning system has to adapt to current economic circumstances to help homeowners, industry and developers, and we have done just that."
The government has also announced new measures that will enable businesses and homeowners to extend existing planning permissions without the expense and red tape of a new planning application were introduced in October 2009.
The fees for extending planning permissions are also now being reduced so the fee for a major development that was previously as high as £250,000 will now be £500, the fee for smaller developments that was as high as £3,000 will now be £170, and for householder projects the previous fee of £150 will be reduced to £50.
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