Sunday 2 February 2014

Environment Agency Start Charging for Advice

A letter from the EA recently dropped on the mat informing me that from the 3rd February 2014 they would be seeking to charge for advice.
The letter notes;

We are introducing a charge for planning advice across the whole of England. This service is being launched at different times across the country and in Anglian Region we will begin charging for advice to developers and their consultants from 3 February 2014. A map showing the area we cover is attached. [see below]

You will still receive a free service in the form of a preliminary opinion. As part of this preliminary opinion we will outline our position and highlight any environmental issues we may be concerned about as a statutory consultee. You can then receive further bespoke advice, if required, at a chargeable rate. This could include the review of technical documents, meetings or site visits. As part of this chargeable service, a project manager from the Environment Agency will act as a single point of contact, co-ordinating the chargeable service for each customer.

Once the terms of reference are agreed, our finance service centre will invoice each quarter. Our charges will be £84 per hour and we do not charge VAT. These charges will apply for all new and ongoing discussions from 3 February 2014.

In the light of recent events, and the continuing cutbacks in Government public expenditure, it is perhaps inevitable that such actions are being rolled out. 

Still, it does make you wonder whether any advice you might receive from a paid for consultation can be relied upon - or will the inevitable caveats that planning departments tack onto their advice be applied in the same way? 

I have always found EA engineers to be pragmatic and practical in their approach to development proposals and I do hope that fee charging (and its attendant professional liabilities) will not diminish their approach in the future.


1 comment:

  1. Do you subscribe to any other websites about this? I'm struggling to find other reputable sources like yourself

    Amela
    Financial Services

    ReplyDelete