Overview of the Act Applications Section 21: Removal of requirement to recover costs before determining certain applications
148.Section 34(4)(c) of the 1997 Act requires an applicant to pay the planning authority a fee to cover the costs incurred in giving notice to interested parties of the application before the authority can issue a decision on that application. Section 21 of the Act repeals this requirement as the intention is to change the approach to recovering such costs upfront through the application fee. Currently the advertising costs are not collected at point of application, but before decision notice is issued which may lead to applicants refusing to pay such costs if they know the application is to be refused.