COTSWOLD District Council will be introducing a 20 percent increase in planning fees from Wednesday January 17.

Planning applications submitted before January 17 and assessed as being valid by a CDC planner will not be subject to the increase.

However, anyone submitting a planning application which is and remains invalid up to January 17 will have to pay the increased fee in line with government regulations.

The government regulations will also introduce a new fee of £402 per 0.1 hectare for ‘Permission in Principle’ applications, the ability for authorities to charge for applications for planning permission following the removal of permitted development rights.

Finally, a fee of £96 will be introduced for prior approval applications to permitted development rights that were introduced in April 2015 and April 2017.

These include the rights for the installation of solar PV equipment on non-domestic buildings, the erection of click-and-collect facilities within the land area of a shop, the temporary use of buildings or land for film-making purposes, and the provision of temporary school buildings on vacant commercial land for state funded schools.