HOUSE builders will have to pay for planning advice after a change in council rules.

Executive board members at Wychavon District Council agreed to use existing government rules to charge developers who ask for advice before they submit a planning application.

Companies who want to sit down with the district’s planning officers will have to pay between £500 and £3,000 depending on the size of the development.

Follow-up meetings will also be charged, but fees will not be applied to individual householders.

Councillor Judy Pearce, planning chief, said the move was in part aimed at stopping developers using planning officers’ publicly funded skills to pay for advice they should be getting from a private planning consultants.

She said: “Planning applications are much more front-loaded than they used to be.

“It puts the onus back on the developer to do a lot of the spadework themselves rather than get our officers to do it for them.

“We feel it’s good they come and talk to us to make sure they’ve got applications that stand up. But that means there’s a lot of work on applications which may actually never see light of day.”

Paul Middlebrough, council leader, saidd: “We have a duty to taxpayers. Developers may be spending taxpayers’ money on seeking planning officers’ advice.”

Coun Charles Tucker asked whether making a business of pre-application process would dent public confidence in the follow-up planning committee process.

He said: “What will the public perception be? I think this could infer an application will not be refused.”

Coun Pearce responded by saying “community discussion will not be prejudiced” and said that councils across the country had already taken the step to charge.

Your Worcester News was the only member of the media to attend the meeting.