Purpose

Since 2006, Horsham District Council has delivered building
control services on behalf of Crawley Borough Council under Sussex
Building Control.

Following the decision by Horsham District Council to terminate the
Sussex Building Control Shared Service Agreement, Crawley Borough
Council (CBC) is now transitioning to establish the Crawley
Building Control Team as part of the Council’s Economy and
Planning Service. Crawley Building Control and its new web pages
presenting its services and related guidance on how to prepare and
submit building control applications to CBC will go live on 23rd
October 2025.

To help enable these new services to function correctly, it is
necessary for Crawley Building Control to establish fees and
charges which building control applicants will be required to pay
for Crawley Building Control services related to either the
processing of full plan checks, or site inspections, building
notices, or other types of building control applications such as
regularisations as well as in return for chargeable
advice.

Appendices A, B and C set out the fees and charges for the
above applications in regard to:
• Appendix A: new build residential dwellings and to
alterations to domestic dwellings (extensions, building conversions
etc).
• Appendix B: Dwelling - houses and flats not exceeding 250m2
or more than 3 storeys
• Appendix C: Non-domestic work (not more than 3 storeys above
ground level)

Please note that Appendices B & C are not available to
the public by virtue of Paragraph 3 of the Part 1 of
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.  Appendix A is published alongside this decision on
the Council’s website via Bulletin
IB/1307.  Appendices B and C can be
viewed by Councillors only on the Council’s intranet version
of Bulletin IB/1307.

The Head of Economy and Planning has taken the decision for the
Fees and Charges set out in Appendices A, B and C to be adopted by
the new Crawley Building Control team and to take effect as the
fees and charges for Crawley Borough Council’s Building
Control function from 23 October 2025.

The levels of these fees and charges are commensurate with the
current fees and charges set out and calculated by Horsham District
Council for Sussex Building Control in accordance with The Building
(Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010. Retaining the same
levels of fees and charges as Horsham DC through Sussex Building
Control is considered appropriate for business continuity reasons
and to facilitate the transition to Crawley Building Control
services from HDC Sussex Building Control services by builders,
developers, residents and other applicants.

The charges set out in Appendices A, B and C are also intended to
help contribute to the cost of the establishment and maintenance of
the new Crawley Building Control service.

The charges have been set for the functions prescribed in
Regulation 4 of the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations
2010, namely:
• A plan charge, payable when plans of the building work are
deposited with the Authority.
• An inspection charge, payable on demand after the Authority
carries out the first inspection in respect of which the charge is
payable if not paid in advance.
• A building notice charge, payable when the Building Notice
is given to the Local Authority.
• A regularisation charge, which is payable at the time of the
application to the Authority in accordance with Regulation 21 of
the Building Regulations.
• Chargeable advice, payable on demand where pre-application
advice exceeds 1 hour and has been agreed in advance. This charge
may be discounted from a subsequent application for the work in
question.

Retaining the fees and charges set out in Appendices A, B and C at
the same levels as Sussex Building Control will also support a
smoother service transition to Crawley BC for the following
reasons:
• Compliance: The existing fees and charges have been
calculated by the current service provider Horsham District council
under Sussex Building in accordance with legal and statutory
requirements.
• Efficiency: Retaining the current cost saves valuable time
for the new incoming Building Control team.
• Benchmarking: The current fee structure provides a useful
reference point for future in-house calculations of fees and
charges.

Content

Approve the proposed fees and charges for the
Council’s new Building Control service provision, as outlined
in Appendices A, B and C. The proposed fees and charges are
scheduled to take effect from 23rd October 2025

Alternative options considered

Option 1 – Crawley Borough Council
should adopt the current fees and charges structure as set out in
Appendices A, B and C. These are in line with those calculated by
Horsham District Council under Sussex Building Control. This
approach will provide a stable framework during the initial
transition period, allowing the team to build the necessary
experience and insight before developing our own tailored fee
model.

Option 2 – Do not set fees and charges – this option is
not approved given it is standard practice for Local Authority
Building Control teams to require fees and charges to be paid in
return for services including the processing of applications.