Refund eligibility under Planning Guarantee Legislation
Case reference FOI2024/00790
Published 20 May 2024
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act in relation to your authority's policies and practices in providing refunds under the planning guarantee legislation (Regulation 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012) and more recent iterations.
1. Please detail how the authority determine an applicant's eligibility for a refund in accordance with the legislation.
2. Can you provide any official documentation, policies, or guidelines that outline the process and criteria for refund eligibility under the planning guarantee legislation? This would include any procedural steps that applicants must follow to initiate a refund request.
If the authority does not have any official documentation, policies or guidelines and has not sought to create this since the inception of the legislation can you provide an explanation why?
3. Are there circumstances, such as the statute of limitations, under which refunds would not be provided? If so, what are these circumstances? Any supporting written advice from your legal department would be of interest.
4. Has your authority been proactive in informing applicant's that they are due a refund of their planning application fees paid when they become eligible?
If the answer to 4 is no, could you explain the rationale behind this approach?
5. Has your authority been proactive in refunding applicant's fees when they become eligible?
a) If the answer to 5 is no, could you explain the rationale behind this approach?
b) If refunds are not proactively made, can you advise what happens to the funds from the unclaimed refunds, since the legislation was implemented?
6. Please provide the contact information for submitting refund requests i.e. the relevant person/team, contact telephone number and contact email address.
7. Please provide the contact information for the authority's Monitoring Officer, as their oversight may be relevant to my inquiries.
For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of individual names and contact details under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not give consent to receive direct marketing via any media and expressly does not constitute a 'soft opt-in' under PECR.
Response
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act in relation to your authority's policies and practices in providing refunds under the planning guarantee legislation (Regulation 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012) and more recent iterations.
1. Please detail how the authority determine an applicant's eligibility for a refund in accordance with the legislation.
The Local Planning Authority (LPA) determines eligibility for a refund in accordance with Section 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and paragraph 0.42 of the Government Guidance: Fees for planning applications (last updated 6 December 2023).
2. Can you provide any official documentation, policies, or guidelines that outline the process and criteria for refund eligibility under the planning guarantee legislation? This would include any procedural steps that applicants must follow to initiate a refund request.
No, we do not have any official documentation. The LPA determines eligibility for a refund in accordance with Section 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and paragraph 0.42 of the Government Guidance: Fees for planning applications (last updated 6 December 2023.
Further information regarding the legislation and planning application fees can be viewed via the links below:
Fees for planning applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If the authority does not have any official documentation, policies or guidelines and has not sought to create this since the inception of the legislation can you provide an explanation why?
There is no statutory requirement to produce such documentation. The Regulations referred to in response to question 1 are in place.
3. Are there circumstances, such as the statute of limitations, under which refunds would not be provided? If so, what are these circumstances? Any supporting written advice from your legal department would be of interest.
No. The LPA determines eligibility for a refund in accordance with Section 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and paragraph 0.42 of the Government Guidance: Fees for planning applications (last updated 6 December 2023.
4. Has your authority been proactive in informing applicant's that they are due a refund of their planning application fees paid when they become eligible?
No.
If the answer to 4 is no, could you explain the rationale behind this approach?
There is no statutory requirement to be proactive in informing applicant's that they are due a refund of their planning application fees paid when they become eligible.
5. Has your authority been proactive in refunding applicant's fees when they become eligible?
No.
a) If the answer to 5 is no, could you explain the rationale behind this approach?
There is no statutory requirement to be proactive in informing applicant's that they are due a refund of an applicant's planning application fees paid when they become eligible.
b) If refunds are not proactively made, can you advise what happens to the funds from the unclaimed refunds, since the legislation was implemented?
The funds have been used to process the planning applications for which the fees have been paid.
6. Please provide the contact information for submitting refund requests i.e. the relevant person/team, contact telephone number and contact email address.
The Planning Team can assist with this and can be contacted by emailing:
Planning_enquiries@herefordshire.gov.uk
7. Please provide the contact information for the authority's Monitoring Officer, as their oversight may be relevant to my inquiries.
Claire Porter - Director of Governance and Law
Email: Claire.Porter2@herefordshire.gov.uk
If you are a company intending to use the names and contact details of council officers provided in this response for direct marketing, you must be registered with the Information Commissioner to process personal data for this purpose. You must also check that the individual (whom you wish to contact for direct marketing purposes) is not registered with one of the preference services to prevent direct marketing. If they are you must adhere to this preference. You must also ensure you comply with the Privacy Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). For more information see www.ico.org.uk
For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of individual names and contact details under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not give consent to receive direct marketing via any media and expressly does not constitute a 'soft opt-in' under PECR.
Documents
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