Wind Turbine Fee Guidance Note

February 2013

Calculating Planning Fees for Wind Turbines and Wind Farms

1. Guidance on planning fees is provided in Circular 04/2008 (The Circular) – Planning-
Related Fees. The legislation referring to fees is The Town and Country Planning (Fees for
Applications and Deemed Applications) Regulations 1989, which has been amended
several times. The most recent amendment is The Town and Country Planning (Fees for
Applications and Deemed Applications) (Amendment) (England)
Regulations 2012. The circular is a guidance document, and cannot override anything
set out in the fee regulations, which are statutory regulations.

2. The Circular states that Wind Turbines are to be treated as Category 5 – Plant and
Machinery, except small scale domestic turbines installed within the curtilage of an
existing completed dwellinghouse which should be treated as Category 6 or 7(a).

3. Category 5 application fees are based on site area. The site area must be accurately
stated on the application form and the area given here must match the site area covered
by the red edge shown on the site location plan. Paragraph 61 of the circular clarifies this.

4. The minimum fee currently chargeable under Category 5 is £385 for a site area up to
0.1 hectares (1000 square meters).

5. Paragraph 40 of The Circular states the following:

Wind turbines are Category 5 for fees purposes (unless of the small domestic type, where
installation should be treated as an alteration or curtilage operation in Category 6 or 7a if not
allowed as permitted development). To calculate the fee for a new windfarm, add all the land over
which the blades of each turbine can rotate to the area of the footprint of any ancillary structures
and engineering works. It is not necessary to include within the red line(s) on an application to put
up wind turbines any other land between the turbines if no development is proposed there.
Category 5(b) of the Town and Country Planning (fees for Applications and Deemed Applications)
Regulations 2012 makes clear that on a site of no more than five hectares, £385 should be charged
for each 0.1 hectare; over five hectares, a fixed sum of £19,049 is payable with an additional £115
for each 0.1 hectare in excess of the first five hectares, subject to a maximum in total of £250,000.

Interpretation

6. All development relating to a wind farm must be within a red edge shown on the site
location plan. No development can be permitted outside the red edge, and this includes,
but is not limited to:

Any area that could potentially be covered by the rotating blades of a turbine
Access tracks, roads or paths
Cable trenches
Control rooms, substations, transformers
Meteorological masts
Any other engineering works, buildings, or structures ancillary to the windfarm.
 Wind Turbine Fee Guidance Note
August 2011
7. Any gates or fencing proposed must be shown edged red. As fencing is a Category 2
structure that creates no floor space, the rules for mixed category applications are
applied and no fee is applied for the area covered by the fencing.

8. The red edge for a wind farm need not be contiguous as the Circular states it is not
necessary to include land between turbines where no development is proposed.

9. Where a developer requires flexibility in the final positioning of turbines and/or

ancillary structures (micrositing), the red edge must include those areas where turbines
or structures could potentially be sited. This will inevitably increase the site area and
consequently the application fee. Development cannot be permitted outside of the red
edge.

Examples

Example 1 shows a 20 turbine wind farm

using turbines with a 46.5m blade span. The
red edge includes the area covered by the
blades, plus a 6m wide access track from the
road and around the turbines.

This is acceptable, but allows the developer

no flexibility in positioning turbines. Any
changes would require the submission of a
new planning application.

Total area of the red edge: 19.39 hectares

Planning Fee:

First 5 hectares: £19,049

14.39ha x 10 = 143.9
£16,560
144 units of 0.1 ha
(rounded up)
144 x £115

Total Fee: £35,609

 Wind Turbine Fee Guidance Note
August 2011

Example 2 shows a 20 turbine wind farm using turbines with a 46.5m blade span. The applicant has
requested a 100M micrositing allowance, so the area around the turbines is 100m plus the blade span
radius.

The red edge covers this area, plus a 6m wide access track from the road and around the turbines.

This is acceptable, and allows the developer some flexibility in positioning turbines without the need for a
new application

Total area of the red edge: 138.27 hectares

PlanningFee:
First 5 hectares: £19,049
133.27 ha x 10 = 1322.72
1323 units of 0.1 ha (rounded up)
1323x £115 £152,145
Total Fee: £171,194
 Wind Turbine Fee Guidance Note
August 2011

Example 3 shows a 3 turbine wind farm using turbines with a 46m blade span. The applicant has
requested a 50M micrositing allowance for the turbines, and 5M for any other elements.

The red edge covers an area of 107.8 hectares, but the applicant has stated the actual development area
to be 3.7 hectares (excluding the micrositing allowances) and has paid the fee on this basis.

This is not acceptable because the fee must be paid based on the site area, which is the area covered by
the red edge.

The applicant needs to revise their red edge to cover only the areas to be developed, but if they do this,
micrositing will not be allowed as it would be outside the red edge.

If they wish to use this site area, they must pay the fee based on 108 hectares (rounded up) which would
be £139,799.
 Wind Turbine Fee Guidance Note
August 2011
FrequentlyAskedQuestions

Circular 04/08 says “To calculate the fee for a new windfarm, add all the land over which
the blades of each turbine can rotate to the area of the footprint of any ancillary structures
and engineering works.” Your approach seems to differ from this?

This is perfectly acceptable provided that the site area shown on the application form and
covered by the red edge covers only those elements.

To quote that sentence in isolation is to misrepresent what the circular is trying to clarify,
because the following sentence says “It is not necessary to include within the red line(s) on
an application to put up wind turbines any other land between the turbines if no
development is proposed there.”

This clarifies that the red edge need not be a contiguous block of land. This clarification
would not be required if the intention was to allow a large site area beyond any
development initially proposed with no implications to the fee.

Other authorities accept a fee based on the area of land to be developed, and submit a
larger site area at no charge. Why do you not take accept this approach?

Lancaster City Council believes that this approach is incorrect because category 5 of the fee
regulations bases the fee on site area. The site area is that given on the application form,
and outlined in red on the site location plan. Anything said in the circular is merely
additional guidance, and cannot override anything stated in the fee regulations, which are
statutory legislation.

If land is enclosed in the red edged site area, there is potential for it to be developed through
amendments to the application or allowances for micrositing. This adds complexity during
the consideration and determination of the application. If you are not proposing to develop
parts of the site, you can exclude those from the site area which may reduce the fee payable.

We disagree with your interpretation. What can we do?

We believe that our interpretation is clear and entirely in accordance with both the fee
regulations and the circular.

If you submit an application and we do not register it as valid because the fee is incorrect,
you can either seek a judicial review in the High Court or wait 8 weeks from the date of
receipt of the application and submit an appeal against non-determination to the Planning
Inspectorate. They will only accept your appeal if they believe the fee paid to be correct. If
they refuse to accept your appeal, you would need to submit your application to us with the
correct fee.

Lancaster City Council

Regeneration and Policy Service – Development Management Team
Tel: 01524 582950 Email: developmentcontrol@lancaster.gov.uk