Fees and Payments

Application fees are set by the government. The fee amount varies, depending on the type of application. Planning fees increased on 6th December 2023. Please see the following Planning Portal guide on increased fees.

Please see the planning portal page on planning fees

If an application is withdrawn or refused, the fee is not refunded.

Fee exemptions are also detailed in the above website link.

Please note that as of 1 October 2021 we are a offering 50% reduction to the fee for discharge of conditions, where the applicant is a parish or town council.

Pre-application fees

Read about our pre-application charges

Making payments

Pay online

If you are applying online via the Planning Portal website, you must make payment via the Planning Portal too. Your application will not be released to us until you have paid the application fee to the Planning Portal. You must also pay the Planning Portal's administrative charge (if this applies) to allow release of your application.

The Planning Portal administrative charge is currently £70.00 (inc. VAT) for applications with fees over £60. Please note that the administrative charge changed on 2nd of May 2023.

Please do not pay Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils the application fee or administrative charge if you are submitting via the Planning Portal. These are part of the Planning Portal’s procedure and must be paid to them. If you do pay directly to us, this may cause delay in processing your application for the reason set out above. We reserve the right to charge a small administrative fee for refunds of payments that should not have come to us.

If you are applying by postal submission or email

Pay planning application fee

If there is an additional fee due to reason(s) of invalidation or error

Pay additional planning application fee

Pay by cheque

You can post a cheque for postal or email submissions. Please be aware it will take longer to process. It may delay the validation of your application within the published timescales.

Our address is:

Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils
Planning Department
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich IP1 2BX

Please make cheques payable to either 'Babergh District Council' or 'Mid Suffolk District Council' (as appropriate).

As the two councils have separate bank accounts, we can only accept cheques made payable to the council covering the address of the proposed development.

Please include the Local Authority Planning Application Reference. 

This will have the format DC/YY/*****.

Please provide a contact name, number and the site address.

Important Note

The methods of payment listed above should be attempted before paying via bank transfer.

If you have tried the above and now wish to pay via BACS, please call Customer Services on 0300 123 4000 (option 5, 3).

They will give you your planning application reference. You must quote this when transferring money into either of our bank accounts. You must then email us to notify us of payment.

Failure to do this may cause a delay to the registration of your planning application within the published timescales.

Submissions for Householder and Discharge of Conditions applications can be made directly to Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council, without a service charge.