Fees and charges
Page updated on: 18/08/2025
The Carmarthenshire SAB is a statutory service under the flood and water management act and SAB regulations Wales, but operates on a cost neutral model. As such, the fees and charges it generates are used to provide the service to its customers and developers in Carmarthenshire.
The fees and charges associated with this service are:
• The SAB application fees (mandatory)
• SAB pre application and guidance fees (optional)
• Adoption fee (mandatory for adoptable sites)
• Inspection fees (mandatory for all applications)
• Non-performance bonds (mandatory for adoptable site and those in high-risk areas)
• Commuted sums (mandatory for all adoptable sites)
Application Fees
These are statutory fees re written into the Sustainable Drainage (Application for Approval Fees)(Wales) Regulations 2018.
For ease of use, please use the fee calculator here. They are based on the size on the development area
Add fee calculator
Pre applications and guidance fees (optional)
Our pre application and guidance service is optional. Details of the two services can be found here. The fees for our guidance service are
| Scale of development | Fees | Max Time (Hrs) |
| 1 Dwelling | £250 | 5 |
| 2-9 Dwellings 0-999m2 | £500 | 10 |
| 10-24 Dwellings 1000-1999m2 | £1000 | 20 |
| 24+ Dwellings 2000m2+ | £1500 | 30 |
Fees for the pre-application service are listed below,
|
Category of development |
Details |
Cost |
|
House holder application |
Patio, garage or an extension etc |
£250 |
|
Erection of a dwelling house |
1-9 dwellings |
£250 |
|
10-24 dwellings |
£600 |
|
|
24 + dwellings |
£1000 |
|
|
Where the number of dwellings is not known |
0 – 0.49 hectares |
£250 |
|
|
0.5 – 0.99 hectares |
£600 |
|
|
1 hectare plus |
£1000 |
Adoption fee (mandatory for adoptable sites)
The SAB charges an adoption fee to cover the costs associated with the administration and engineers time during the adoption agreement and land transfer process.
| 2-9 dwellings or in the absence of dwellings, we calculate fees based on floor space 0-999m2 |
£500 |
| 10-24 dwellings or 1000-1999m2 |
£1000 |
| 24 +dwellings or 2000m2 |
£2000 |
These are payable to the SAB for the inspection and maintenance of the sustainable drainage assets in perpetuity. The fees are currently calculated and then discounted over a 60-year development life. These are non-negotiable but are heavily influenced by your design for example, sub-surface assets will be difficult to inspect and maintain, so will be subject to greater inspection and maintenance fees and therefore a higher commuted sum. Our SAB engineers will be able to advise you on this requirement at pre-application guidance stage.
Non-performance bonds are taken in the form of a surety and cover the construction costs. All adoptable sites and larger developments in our high-risk flood areas (as defined in our flood risk management plan), will require a non-performance bond. Your SAB engineers will be able to advise you on this requirement at pre-application or guidance stages.
Inspection fees will be charged on all successful applications. The inspection regime will differ from site to site, but will aim to ensure that:
- Ensure the works have been undertaken as per the consent
- To ensure that owners of private assets are aware of their purpose and their management and maintenance obligations.
All inspections will be undertaken on a risk-based basis but it’s impossible to say with any level of certainty what the costs will be ahead of an evaluation of the drainage design. What we can say, without prejudice is that
- Non adoptable sites up to a single dwelling, outside of high-risk areas (as defined by our flood risk management plan) are low risk. Two visits at £168 each would normally be standard to achieve our goals.
- Adoptable sites would have 3 generic milestone and inspections namely at 50%, which would facilitate an element of bond being released, 100% completion and provisional certificate and an inspection post defects correction period. In addition, we would set out an inspection programme of the key drainage infrastructure at key construction stages.
- If post the defects corrections period there are issues that need addressing, inspection fees will be chargeable again at £168 per visit.
