Agenda item

The Planning Portfolio Holder, Head of Development Management and Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, presented an update on planning performance and service improvements.

A structure chart had been circulated to members, which would be updated as staff changes occurred.

The Planning Portfolio Holder brought to the committee’s attention a number of improvements that had been made in the service since the last update to the committee in April 2016. Since the last update, a staff away day had taken place during which a Development Management Charter had been produced, outlining what staff wanted to achieve. Hard copies of this were circulated to the committee during the meeting.

Main points of discussion were:

·         Members requested to know how many backlog applications went to appeal over non-determination. This information was not available during the meeting but could be presented at the September 2016 committee meeting. The committee requested the answer be provided to the Democratic Services Officer in the meantime, for circulation to the committee.

·         Members queried whether the target set for clearing backlog applications was overly ambitious. The Head of Development Management said that an ambitious target needed to be set and informed the committee that agency staff were dealing with the backlog. It was acknowledged that due to the nature of agency working, this made the availability of staff potentially more volatile, however weekly meetings monitored this.

·         The committee felt the report suggested that there were certain times of the year when there was a lull in the availability of planning officers. Whether there was sufficient office cover throughout the year to avoid peaks and troughs of activity was queried. The Head of Development Management assured the committee that peak holiday periods were planned in advance to ensure enough cover in the department throughout the year, and that officers took workload into consideration when planning their holidays.

·         The committee was informed that the Council could not prevent applicants from submitting planning applications at peak holiday times. It could however take a view on the length of public consultation over a holiday period, to ensure sufficient opportunity for the public to be informed.

·         The committee requested the Planning department keep members informed of major planning applications in their wards and that this be embedded in the culture of the department. The Planning Portfolio Holder apologised if this had not been consistently done. The Local Member for Hardwick thanked officers for having kept him well informed of applications in his ward.

·         The Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development expressed the view that where applications were submitted without following the pre-application process, agents be notified that such applications would be refused. Member support would be needed if this was implemented.

·         Members expressed concern for officer wellbeing in laying more customer service aims and expectations on officers, in addition to their existing workload. The Head of Development Management informed members that the Council’s Contact Centre would be trained to deal with more generic planning enquiries and more information would be available publicly on the Council’s website. It was hoped this would steer more generic planning enquiries away from planning officers.

·         When asked about officers working from home, it was clarified that line managers would know in advance when an officer would be working from home.

·         The Planning Portfolio Holder informed members that a further Planning training session for Planning Committee members and substitutes was being scheduled for September 2016. Members requested that at least 4 weeks notice of training be given, to allow those members who worked to be able to book leave in order to attend.

·         Members asked whether, rather than having to dedicate a whole day to training, if training could be carried out in shorter stages over a period of time. The Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development would discuss this with Democratic Services.

·         Members queried whether the reorganisation of the Council’s legal services had impacted negatively on Planning. In response to this, the committee was informed that collaboration with legal services was important. The Planning Portfolio Holder informed the committee that timescales of the discharge of conditions was being looked at, as was the actioning of projects by developers once applications had been approved.

The Scrutiny and Overview committee noted the report and thanked the Planning Portfolio Holder and officers for attending.