Planning Advisory Service Review
The Council invited the Planning Advisory Service into the Council in February 2024 to conduct an independent review of our Development Management Service.
The report advises that the Development Management Service is performing well overall, particularly compared to many planning departments nationally. However, there are areas of the service that do need to be improved, particularly around timeliness of decision making and use of extension of time agreements.
The Council will also be at significant risk if the government introduces the new KPIs that they have consulted on given these are not currently being achieved by the planning service.
The Council has taken on board the recommendations in the report and have created an Action Plan. This sets out the key priorities for action and expected timescales. It is important to note that it will take some time to complete the actions and improve the service, but we are committed to do so.
We intend to update our customers on the progress of our Action Plan at least quarterly.