Agenda item

To consider the following Planning related reports scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 14 April 2021:

·       Future of Planning in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the reports and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Philip Broadhead, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning.

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

The Future of Planning in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

The Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Economy and Strategic Planning presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The Portfolio Holder outlined the key issues within the report. The Portfolio Holder and Head of Planning responded to comments and requests for clarification, details included:

• Significant work had been undertaken to make changes to processes within the planning department and, in particular, the implementation of one IT system would make a huge difference to the team as a whole. This would then avoid the unintentional siloing of the team and build resiliency which was not currently possible with three different IT systems.
• Significant time and effort was going into ensuring the provision of real-time data that would measure the performance of the planning team, and this would be made readily available when it could be presented most effectively.
• A priority service for major applications was being explored, however, there would most likely be restrictions and it was imperative that the core service was robust before introducing a fast-tracking system.
• There were ambitions to improve the pre-applications process through a major projects forum.
• In terms of recruitment to the panning service, there was a national shortage of planners so it was therefore important to ensure that salaries were competitive in order to attract the best.
• The Planning department were going to be one of the first areas of the Council to undertake the ‘Smarter Structures’ programme which would review how each department, (in this case including development management, planning policy and enforcement etc.), worked as a whole.
• The council was currently undertaking its local plan process, which would bring together the existing planning policies into one updated document that would be utilised across the conurbation, including issues such as affordable housing, height and scale of developments etc – a large piece of work was being undertaken by the local plan working group to look at the emerging issues and being fed back into the plan’s development. It was important to look at what other local authorities were doing as there were already some innovative ideas being used that BCP Council could adopt or adapt.
• The definitions of the different types of applications were set out:
  • Major Applications were any development of 10 units or above in terms of residential use, 1000sq meters of commercial space/non-residential floor space or a site over 1 hectare;
  • Minor Applications were small scale developments (under 10 units;
  • Other Applications were householder extensions or advertisements.
• Obtaining planning permission could be a complicated procedure, particularly in the case of large scale applications where a great deal of consultation was required, and this would often mean that delays were inevitable, which the required the use of time extensions to be agreed.
• The council often challenged figures provided by the District Valuer on large scale developments and this could sometimes this can be the cause of delay.
• The allocated money was dedicated to support the transformation of the service and would support the service in delivering the required improvements.
• Time extensions for planning applications had to be agreed by all parties and the Portfolio Holder did not have current the number of applications that had been given extensions to hand, although as a rule 60-70% of applications did not need extensions. The Planning service needed to get to a point where there was a useful pre-application process that will reduce need for elongated applications.
• Extensions were a national mechanism for all councils to use and therefore not uncommon.
• The Planning Improvement Board was proving to be a really positive tool to demonstrate areas for improvement within the council’s planning processes and the portfolio holder was confident that organisation could turn the existing situation around, which he acknowledged had been in a bad place thus far.
• The Council’s Strategic Implementation Partner (SIP) would be working closely with the department to aid its transformation.
• The majority of staff within the council’s planning department were permanently employed by BCP council although some agency staff (not exceeding 10% of the workforce) were used to clear the existing backlog. As part of the smarter structures programme those agency staff currently being utilised would be eligible to apply for any identified vacancies.
• The Planning Improvement Board has worked with the planning services to establish what they thought was needed in terms of budget and other resources to resolve the issues already identified and, if required, will not hesitate to provide additional funding.
• Data was produced which set out performance of individual staff and it was highlighted that all staff were incredibly dedicated to their roles.

Planning performance would be closely monitored

The chairman stated that prior to the debate, he had been concerned that the recommendations to cabinet would not be adequate, however he was now far more encouraged by the work to date and the commitment that had been made by the Portfolio Holder and the Head of Planning that the service would be provided with the resources it needed to make the necessary improvements. He requested that an update report be presented in six months to allow the Board to monitor the progress.