Agenda item

5.1       The Committee received a report which provided an annual update on the      performance of the Town Planning Service in terms of the timeliness and             quality of its planning application decision making and the success rate of         planning appeals. The performance of the department over the period    between April 2020 and March 2021 continues to exceed the required             performance thresholds set by the MHCLG.

5.2       The performance of local planning authorities (LPAs) in determining major         and non-major development is assessed by the MHCLG over a 24-month       rolling period after every quarter. The assessment of performance is judged             by the MHCLG against two separate measures of performance, as set out in             ‘Improving Planning Performance Criteria for Designation (revised 2020),          which are:

·       the speed with which applications are dealt with measured by the proportion of applications that are dealt with within the statutory time or an agreed extended period and:

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·       the quality of decisions made by local planning authorities measured by the

proportion of decisions on applications that are subsequently overturned at appeal.

·       For major applications the MHCLG sets a threshold of at least 60% of all decisions being made within 13 weeks or within an alternative timeframe agreed with the applicant.

·       For non-major development the MHCLG threshold is 70%. The MHCLG measures the quality of decision making by LPAs by monitoring their success rate at appeal.

·       For both major and non-major development, the MHCLG sets a threshold of not more than 10% of the total number of decisions made by an LPA being subsequently overturned at appeal.

5.3       Members held discussions and noted the following: -

·       That the Council met and exceeded the MHCLG performance threshold for speed of decisions for both Major and Non-Major Applications. The Major Applications exceeded the threshold by 14% and the Non-Major Applicants met the requirements.

·       That the timeliness of decision making for Non-Major Applications had dropped by 3.9% since June 2020 and this was due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and vacant posts within the Place Shaping & Town Planning Service. The Committee was advised that measures were being put in place to reverse the trend which included improved data and case monitoring, increased staff focus on improving the speed of decision making, such as utilising ‘extensions of times’ where appropriate. There is also an ongoing recruitment drive to fill vacant posts.

·       Members noted that staffing numbers and the deployment of resources would continue to be monitored. Officers advised that a large proportion of the department’s resources are deployed to deal with applications which are not featured in the statistics monitored by the MHCLG, such as Listed Building Consents. Members were informed that the recently introduced new departmental structures would be used to ensure that performance statistics are improved and maintained above thresholds and that a good service is delivered to applicants.

·       That only 0.9% of Non-Major Applications Appeals during the 24 Month Period to September 2019 determined in that period were overturned. These statistics are one of the lowest in all the inner London Boroughs. Only 1% of Major Applications were overturned during the same period and similarly this score is also one of the lowest in the above grouping.

·       That 73% of appeals during the 2020 -21 were turned down and this was a decrease from 77% in the previous year. This was attributed to the high level of telecom appeals that were made in the previous year and had been dismissed.

·       That it was too early to deduce trends following the adoption of the new City Plan. Officers advised that it was anticipated that the number of appeals would increase in the forthcoming year, and this was the usual trend when new developments plan documents such as a City Plan are implemented.

·       That 6 advertisement consent applications were appealed and 3 had been granted. Members were informed that this was a small percentage compared to the overall number of advertisement consent applications that were received by the Service.   

5.4       Members thanked officers for their ongoing overall good performance in             determining planning applications and defending appeals.

Resolved:

Members noted the contents of the report and noted the ongoing overall good performance of the Town Planning service in terms of its performance in the determination of planning applications and defending decisions to refuse permission at appeal.