Planning Portal service charge update from 1 April 2026 

From 1 April 2026, the Planning Portal service charge for planning applications will increase by £5 to £75.83 + VAT per application submission.

We recognise that any change to fees requires careful consideration, particularly in the current economic environment. This update reflects continued investment in the resilience, security and development of the national planning platform, ensuring it remains legislatively compliant, reliable, authoritative and fit for the future.

Planning Portal supports over half a million applicants each year while securely connecting planning applications with local planning authorities across England and Wales. As the built environment continues to evolve, so too must the digital infrastructure that supports it.

Why the service charge is changing 

Behind every submission sits a national platform responsible for secure payments, structured planning data, built-in location plan service, system integrations and reliable digital services connecting applicants, professionals and councils.

While many people know Planning Portal as the place to submit a planning application, our role extends much further. Increasingly, we support applicants earlier in their journey, helping them understand planning requirements, explore common projects and prepare stronger submissions before entering the formal application process.

Maintaining and improving this infrastructure requires ongoing investment. In 2026 that investment focuses on three priority areas:

As a national digital platform responsible for handling sensitive applicant information and financial transactions, Planning Portal must operate to the highest standards of security, compliance and operational resilience.

The portal is supported by internationally recognised assurance frameworks, including accreditation to ISO 27001 for information security management, alongside ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, reflecting our commitment to secure, reliable and responsibly managed digital services.

Significant ongoing investment continues to be made in cyber security infrastructure and the resilience of the systems that support application submission and payment processing.

Maintaining secure, high-availability digital infrastructure has become increasingly complex in recent years. The cost of cloud infrastructure, cyber security capabilities and specialist engineering expertise has risen significantly across the technology sector, alongside expanding regulatory and compliance requirements.

Continuous reinvestment is therefore essential to ensure the platform remains robust, secure and trusted by both applicants and local authorities.

One of the most effective ways to improve the planning system is to ensure applications are stronger before they are submitted. More than 3.5 million people use Planning Portal guidance every year, often before engaging directly with their local authority and therefore reducing repetitive enquiries. As planning guidance continues to evolve through reform, we remain closely engaged with policy changes and are actively investing in our content, expertise and digital tools to ensure our guidance stays accurate, up to date and aligned with the latest requirements.

To support this early-stage understanding, Planning Portal continues to invest in the evolution of Interactive House, a fully redesigned digital environment that allows homeowners and professionals to explore common projects, understand planning requirements, and navigate legislation through a visual, interactive experience. Rebuilt using extensive user research and feedback from applicants, professionals and planning officers, Interactive House provides clearer, more accessible guidance designed to help people understand planning rules before they apply, reducing confusion, improving application quality and easing pressure on local authorities.

This spring, Interactive House will introduce a new AI-powered planning policy navigator, providing a conversational interface that offers structured guidance drawn exclusively from Planning Portal content and national planning policy sources.

More than a typical chatbot, the navigator has been designed to help applicants interpret planning policy and understand requirements before entering the formal application process. By improving clarity earlier in the journey, it will help reduce common errors that lead to invalid submissions while also supporting local planning authorities by reducing avoidable enquiries.

Better-informed applicants ultimately lead to stronger applications, smoother validation and a more efficient planning process for everyone involved.

Alongside strategic investment in guidance and infrastructure, Planning Portal continues to deliver practical improvements to the application process itself.

Upcoming updates include the integration of Local Validation Checklists directly into the application journey, the introduction of structured Community Infrastructure Levy data capture, improvements to supporting document uploads, and the ability for agents to make bulk payments across multiple applications.

These enhancements have been shaped through ongoing collaboration with local planning authorities and industry professionals. Our shared aim is to reduce avoidable errors, improve validation success and streamline the application journey for applicants, agents and councils alike. Each improvement saves time and adds efficiency across the industry, enabling professionals to focus on delivering high-quality, sustainable communities.

Planning Portal is not a static service. It is a continually evolving national platform shaped by user feedback, sector collaboration and regulatory change.

A long-term commitment to digital planning 

Planning Portal has been developed over more than two decades in partnership with government, local planning authorities and the wider built environment sector.

The service charge supports the systems, integrations and digital infrastructure that underpin the online planning process, from secure payment handling and structured data capture through to the continuous development of tools that help applicants understand planning requirements.

This long-term investment ensures the planning system remains accessible, reliable and resilient as the sector continues to evolve.

Our priority remains clear, improving submission quality, reducing avoidable delays and supporting both applicants and local authorities with trusted digital services.

Our continued investment reflects that responsibility. By strengthening both the digital infrastructure behind the service and the guidance available to applicants earlier in their journey, we aim to help people get it right first time while supporting local authorities with a trusted national platform.

Together, we’re continuing to build something that is more than a submission service, a portal that helps people understand planning and navigate the process with greater confidence.”

Planned system update notice 

To implement the updated service charge and English planning fees updates the England and Wales portal will be taken offline at approximately 17:00 on 31 March, at the close of the business day. This will ensure compliance with the legislative implementation date of 1 April.

A reminder of what the service includes  

Our service charge underpins a broad range of services and capabilities that support applicants, professionals and local authorities across the planning process, including: 

• Built-in location plans provided with every application. 

• A dedicated support desk, available Monday - Friday to help users navigate the submission process. 

• Secure payment processing, ensuring local authorities receive 100% of statutory planning fees, at no cost to the authority.  

• National planning guidance website, used by over 3.5 million people each year to understand planning requirements before they apply.  

• An in-house planning policy team ensuring legislation, and policy updates are clearly interpreted and reflected in guidance and application services.  

• A new AI-powered planning guidance navigator within Interactive House, helping users explore Planning Portal guidance and national planning policy through a conversational interface before submitting an application.  

• Interactive House, a digital guidance tool allowing homeowners to explore projects room-by-room and understand planning and building regulation requirements before submitting.  

• Secure, compliant digital infrastructure, continuously improved for reliability and resilience. 

• Collaboration tools enabling users to work jointly on applications, nominate others to pay and transfer submissions into building control. 
  

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