Planning Service Updates

As part of Huntingdonshire District Council’s programme of change, from 1 April 2026 all new planning applications will incur a fee if they are deemed invalid. Together with the recent introduction of application amendments, this forms part of the broader commitment to improving the customer experience and delivering a more efficient, responsive planning service.

HDC receives a significant number of planning applications that are deemed invalid due to missing or incorrect information. Although guidance on the requirements for submitting a valid application is available on Guidance, Checklists and Advice Notes, a high volume of incomplete submissions continues to place substantial pressure on the service. Processing invalid applications requires considerable officer time and resources, reducing overall efficiency, delaying decision-making, and increasing workload for staff.

The council has undertaken a task of reviewing and updating the local validation lists. The list sets out the general requirements for planning applications and will be available on the website. It has been updated to provide a clearer guide to what the council needs for an application to be valid the first time, including BNG provision.

To help address this issue, we are introducing an administration charge for handling invalid applications. The purpose of this charge is to encourage applicants to provide complete and accurate information at the point of submission, increase the proportion of applications that are valid on receipt, and enable officers to focus their efforts on progressing valid applications rather than managing avoidable errors.

The charge for invalid planning applications will take effect on 1 April 2026.

Invalid fees are as follows:  

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, the Planning Service commissioned a peer challenge review, conducted by the Local Government Association (LGA) in partnership with the Planning Advisory Service (PAS). This report presents the findings of that review.

Read the Huntingdonshire Planning Peer Challenge Final Report March 2025

The Planning Department relaunched the Agents Forum, with the first meeting held on 21 July 2025.

This was an in-person event attended by a wide range of developers and agents who regularly submitted applications to the Local Planning Authority (LPA).

The forum provided a platform for discussing key planning topics and sharing updates on important areas, including:

• The Local Plan

• Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106

• Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

• Scheme of Delegation

• Planning Services Peer Review

• Pre-Application Process

• No Amendments Policy

To help address the backlog of planning applications, HDC introduced a No Amendments Policy in October 2022. Under this policy, amendments to planning applications were not accepted once validated - except in strategic cases.

This encouraged applicants and developers to use our pre-application advice service, relaunched at the same time, to ensure applications were accurate and complete from the outset.

As part of the Planning Peer Review, Recommendation R9b advised a review of this policy.

Local authorities are not legally required to accept amendments once an application is submitted.

Processing amendments involves additional work - such as re-validating plans, re-consulting with neighbours and stakeholders and reassessing proposals - which is not covered by the original application fee.

The Peer Review also highlighted that charging for amendments, as practiced by other councils, could help recover costs and support income generation. Amendments include both changes to plans and the submission of additional information requiring consultation and consideration.

View further information about the new approach to amendments.