Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
A council in Dorset is to charge householders planning home extensions nearly £1,000 per bedroom.
Purbeck District Council is making the charge in order to help fund their £30m 20 year transport plans. The policy is an extension of the legislation which allows councils to charge developers for contribution towards infrastructure spending.
Guidance on development contributions published jointly by Purbeck Council with Dorset County Council states that home extensions incur a charge of “£993 per extra bedroom or room having the capacity to be a bedroom” as a contribution to transport infrastructure. The figure assumes that occupants of an average three-bedroom house will make seven trips a day on the highways and that each extra bedroom will increase highway usage proportionally.
Other councils are believed to be looking into similar schemes.
