The Panel to receive a report from Jenifer Jackson, Head of Planning.

Jenifer Jackson, Head of Planning, took the Panel through the report. Jenifer Jackson informed the Panel that a typical household application would take eight weeks, a major, ten units or more would take thirteen weeks and anything larger would take sixteen weeks. The Chairman asked about what happens to the applications that are not completed. Jenifer Jackson informed the Panel that some remain with planning for many reasons, sometimes as planning are negotiating with the applicant. Residents often use the council as a planning consultant.

Russell O’Keefe informed the Panel that there were two simple levels, offer a planning service or a development control service and some councils could be very rigid in their decision making. RBWM use best practice wherever possible to negotiate and get the best outcome. Our officers spend a lot of time with the residents.

The Panel raised the following points:

·         What were the sanctions for under-developing? We would be monitored on a two year rolling period. The government would intervene by looking at the planning handling service or by sending applications direct to the Planning Inspectorate.

·         An issue seems to be that the applicant does not listen to the planning advice.

·         The referenced Act in the report is out of date.

·         Of the appeals allowed, how many were against the officer’s recommendation? There was a large difference between the planning officer and the Panel but this year, it is very different.

·         Where did the 20% come from?

·         Why are the appeals so high? Since we still do not have a new plan adopted, we are still using the very old local plans from 1999.we would be more vulnerable to lose appeals. Once the new local plan was adopted, we would have a stronger position.

·         How many local authorities have a new local plan? Those authorities that have a post 2004 local plan are having intervention now.

·         The Local Plan would be submitted on 31 January 2018.

·         Timing of a pre application meeting? Once again this would depend on the type of application. A household application would take four-six weeks and on major applications, we offer a bespoke service.

·         The high turnover of staff and agency staff, not knowing the borough and therefore giving incorrect advice. By the end of January 2018, there would be a full team of staff.

·         It would be better to have figures in tables rather than percentages to show the true situation.

·         Was it possible to increase appeal costs or apply a cooling off period between applications? We cannot levy charges and can only apply the cooling off period on certain circumstances.

·         Could we compare ourselves with other local authorities. All local authorities can be found on the government website.

·         Resource would need to be considered as some local authorities are heavily resourced and others are short staffed. So the comparison would be meaningless.

The Panel thanked the planning department for all their hard work, even without a full team. The Panel recommended that a summary of the report to be sent to Parish Councils.

ACTION: Jenifer Jackson to send a summary of this report to all Parish Councils.

ACTION: An item to be placed in Around the Royal Borough, consult with Chairman.

ACTION: Place this item on the Agenda for every other meeting, including performance data on pre application.