CHANGES to the support given to planning applicants in Christchurch have been approved by councillors - three years after they were initially discussed.

Residents will now face charges to receive pre-application advice.

The existing fees for larger developments will also increase.

The move was decided at a meeting of Christchurch Borough Council's resources committee on Wednesday October 26.

In addition, the duty planning officer service provided every morning at the Christchurch Borough Council offices will be scrapped, with customer service staff now acting as the public face for basic planning application enquiries.

The unanimous decision from the resources committee overlooked a recommendation made by the scrutiny and policy committee last month to introduce the new fees, along with a three month trial period of the new customer services advice set up while maintaining a duty officer.

The new charges schedule and removal of the duty officer will be introduced from January with a report on its implementation coming back to members after six months.

The charges for pre-application planning advice were approved by community services committee in December 2014, however this was delayed as the council was not able to offer an acceptable standard of service until recently.

At the resources committee meeting, Cllr Lesley Dedman, chairman of the planning committee, said: "I think a lot of work has been done to get the planning department in a position to actually implement what was put before us in 2014, which should have been implemented.

"It won't be a trial period of six months, it will be implemented properly and it is going to work properly.

"I think overriding scrutiny's recommendation is a good thing in the sense that we want to give this a chance.

"There may be teething troubles, but I think the report in six months will be a good one."

Residents seeking planning advice for applications relating to extensions, outbuildings, listed building work will need to pay £100 for a 30 minute meeting.

Advice on applications with 40 or more dwellings will now cost £600 per hour, 10 to 39 dwellings £400 per hour and one to nine dwellings £200 per 30 minutes.

Cllr Peter Hall, chairman of the resources committee, said: "Under Jane Lynch it does seem we are streamlining planning. There's a lot of work to do and I think she's tackled it extremely well."

The finances raised from the new costs schedule, along with scrapping the duty officer service, will assist the council in reducing the dependency of the development management service on subsidies from council tax payers.