Archived decisions

Contact: Richard Read, ext 6727 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 A Best Value Service Review of development control was carried out in 2002. It highlighted the lack of a published service policy or charter for processing planning applications, monitoring or enforcement. The Treasurer's Consultancy was commissioned to undertake a review of best practice and prepare a draft Charter. That draft has now been considered by a small Panel of Members of this Committee. A revised draft, amended in the light of the Panel's comments and observations, is attached as an appendix. It is recommended that this revised Development Control Charter be adopted and published.

2. Purpose

2.1 One of the outcomes of the 2002 Best Value Service Review was the recognition that there was no published development control charter setting out the processes and standards for processing County Matter (minerals and waste) planning applications or planning applications for County Council development, and for linking this to monitoring and enforcement.

2.2 The Treasurer's Consultancy was commissioned to prepare a draft Development Control Service Policy or Charter. The objectives being to:

(i) align the policy with published best practice and corporate equalities and communications policies;

(ii) incorporate standards for benchmarking;

(iii) incorporate the application of new technology; and

(iv) establish links with Enforcement Service policy.

2.3 The approach taken was to establish the current procedures for processing applications as the basis for assessment against recommended best practice published by the Planning Officers' Society and the Audit Commission. In addition other local authority websites were researched for comparison. Advice was also taken from the Corporate Communications team to ensure any proposals conformed to current Corporate Communications Standards.

2.4 At its meeting on 28 July 2004 this Committee was made aware of this commission and resolved to form a small Panel of Members (comprising the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Councillors Mrs Banks, Ludlow and Luffman) to act as a sounding board for the recommendations emerging from the work.

3. Development Control Charter

3.1 The draft Development Control Charter was discussed at length by the Members' Panel. The key issues discussed concerned:

Applications

3.2 Applications are frequently submitted with insufficient details to enable the application to be determined. The quest for details leads to delay and increased negotiations with applicants and consultees. The Charter proposes that a planning application will not be accepted as valid unless the appropriate details have been submitted. To help applicants understand what information will be required a new planning application form and guidance is being produced setting out the details required to be submitted.

Consultations

3.3 Consultees are requested to respond to the consultation within 21 days. In the past determination of applications has been delayed whilst waiting for all consultees to respond. The Charter proposes that if no response has been received within the 28 day period - the 21 day consultation period plus a lapse period for posting - from the consultation date it will be assumed there are no comments and the application will be determined accordingly. This applies equally to consultation with statutory consultees, including District Councils, and other consultees. However, where a consultee response is particularly significant to the consideration of an application and the consultee has requested additional time to respond, determination will await their response, within an agreed timescale.

Delegation

3.4 There has been some uncertainty in the past about whether or not an application should be referred to the Regulatory Committee in circumstances when an objection is received to the application but the objection is not a material planning consideration or can be satisfactorily overcome by condition. The Charter clarifies that in these circumstances the application can be determined under delegated powers. Planning applications will continue to be referred to the Regulatory Committee when there are major issues or significant material planning objections, or when requested by a County Councillor. Opportunities have been taken to modify the Scheme of Delegation for Planning Decisions accordingly and make some minor amendments. The revised Scheme is set out in the Appendix to the Charter and is recommended for adoption.

Legal Agreements

3.5 The need for legal agreements to be completed before a planning permission can be issued has been the cause of very significant delays in processing a planning application. To avoid unnecessary delays the Charter proposes that, following a decision to grant permission subject to a legal agreement:

(i) if there has been no correspondence from the applicant for a period of three months it may be assumed that they no longer wish to proceed with the application and be treated as a `withdrawn' case;

(ii) if a legal agreement has not been completed within six months of the decision to approve, the application will be reconsidered with the presumption that permission would be refused.

E-Government

3.6 The County Council has a requirement and responsibility to extend the ability to deliver services through e-government. For development control this is being achieved through the development of both a new planning applications system, which became operational in July 2003, and the development of a dedicated web-site. Ultimately the intention is to provide the ability to submit an application, comment on an application and check progress of an application online. Once these changes are operational aspects of the Charter may need to be reviewed.

Equalities and Diversity

3.7 It is important that everyone has access to the development control service. County Council corporate measures, eg disabled access to the Castle complex and customer training of staff, address many equalities issues. However, that access to inspect planning application documentation is restricted to office hours and local authority offices. The `e-government' strategy - see above - will improve access, as it is also proposed that by the beginning of 2005 applications will be available for inspection on-line in main branch libraries. The large number of library premises and extended opening hours will be an accessibility improvement.

4. Conclusions

4.1 The underlying purposes for having a published Charter are to ensure transparency, increase public awareness of the procedures involved in the development control service and improve the efficiency and performance of the service. The attached draft attempts to strike the right balance between, on the one hand, the drive for improved performance and, on the other hand, enabling the effective involvement of all the relevant interests in the process.

4.2 The Charter will be monitored to ensure that it remains effective in managing the development control procedures and reflects best practice. Reports on the working of the Charter will become a standing item on the Committee's agenda at a frequency to be agreed.

4.3 The Charter will be published both in hard copy and on the County Council's website.

Recommendations

1. That the Development Control Charter attached as an appendix be adopted for the purposes of improving awareness and understanding of the procedures involved in the development control service.

2. That the amended Scheme of Delegation for Planning Decisions contained in the Appendix to the Development Control Charter be adopted.

9002/RR