Shakedown D'Jour

Classic rent-seeking going on. They're too shameless even to try and come up with some blather about the need to cover the costs of the process. Nope, they just come out and admit their real motives:

The officials behind the scheme justify it by saying the money is needed to maintain public transport and roads.

Yep, not even the pretence that there's any relation between the charge and the planning process. They're taking people's money for the same reason the dog licks it's own nads: because they can.

And who's behind this scheme ? Well, it's like this:

The 'bedroom tax' has been brought in under laws which allow councils to ask for money from developers such as supermarkets in return for granting them planning permission.

In Purbeck, which is run by a minority Tory group, those building home extensions are considered developers and will be asked for £993 for each room that can be used as a bedroom.

Truly, they have learned well from the teachings of Ayatollah Khameron.