Turnaround in planning performance
We've made intensive efforts to improve our planning performance. Our planning team has worked hard to speed up decision-making for applications on non-major development.
The Minister of State for Housing and Planning has written to us. In her letter she confirms that she:
- wishes to support this improvement
- recognises that designation would undermine the progress our planning team has made
- will not designate our council for its planning performance on non-major applications*
* This means our officers and councillors will continue to make local planning decisions rather than the government stepping in.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will continue to monitor our performance.
We'll stay focussed on improving the service that local people and applicants expect from us.
Our latest planning results
April to June 2023
For the last reported quarter our performance on non majors was at 82% within time. This is well above the government's quarterly target of 70%.
October 2022 to June 2023
Our performance has been above 70% for the past three quarters. This is the percentage of non-major applications determined within time for each quarter.
- 72.03% for October to December 2022
- 74.65% for January to March 2023
- 82.02% for April to June 2023
July to October 2023
The returns we've submitted to DLUHC for this quarter are also well above 70%.
Councillor Quotes
Leader of the Council, Cllr Julia McShane said:
"This is the right outcome given the enormous effort made and the progress achieved by our planning team."
Lead Councillor for Planning, Environment and Climate Change, George Potter, said:
"My thanks go to the entire planning team for this impressive turnaround, which is down to their hard work and dedication.
There is still significant work to do to maintain our improved performance, but we can take pride in the remarkable progress we've made under very challenging circumstances."
Published on: 6 October 2023