Council planning departments under scrutiny

Are council planning departments effective?

The DTLR has recently published a report detailing the effectiveness of local government planning, which has been used as an input to the planning Green Paper. The report underlines many of the changes proposed by the Green Paper. The report, compiled from existing statistics from planning departments, measured their effectiveness and the running of the system as a whole. It made some interesting conclusions:

A requirement for faster decisions currently often results in a higher refusal rate.

Resources in planning departments have declined significantly over the past five years and performance has generally worsened, albeit in different functions for different authorities.

The decline in real resources available to planning authorities, combined with pressures to improve the timescale of the development control decision-making process, have resulted in a loss of prioritisation of development plan work.

The report also concludes that the various tiers of strategic planning such as the local plan, structure plan etc only serve to impose delays on applications, and that the current two-stage system of development plans is unnecessary. The report also underlines that there is great support from business and local authorities for overhauling the planning system, even if this is causing concern for local councillors who see the removal of planning decisions from committee and the structure plan process as undermining the democratic system.

You can download the full paper here

For a guide on what the planning Green Paper means for developers and the community, click here

New Community Forum launched by Falconer

Lord Falconer attends the first meeting of his new community forum set up to link communities directly with government. Twenty people from across the country (a housewife, priest and former motorbike despatch rider, to name but three) have met to advise the government on how to make a difference for deprived neighbourhoods.

The community forum members are expected to help explain to their own communities what the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (RNU) is doing to improve people’s quality of life.

Lord Falconer believes that this new forum will be a ‘hotline to Government’. Speaking at its first meeting he said:

‘Community Forum members will play a key role in helping to renew our poorest neighbourhoods. Their views are based on real-life experience – will help ensure that communities are genuinely involved in the process of revitalising their neighbourhoods.’

The community forum is again an indication of the government’s move towards consultation as a key part of policy and planning, something Green Issues has specialised in for years.

For further information, contact Tom Curtin on tomc@greenissues.com or Jacqueline Jones on jacquelinej@greenissues.com

More young councillors needed - IDeA

According to a census by the Improvement and Development Agency (IdeA), the average councillor in England and Wales is white, retired and 57 years old. This somewhat unsurprising result has spurred the agency to make the role more attractive to young councillors, especially those under 35. As outlined by Paul Wheeler from IdeA,

‘When you are talking about education and work, it is essential we have councillors who are under the age of 40 who understand those issues.’

The finding launches the first Fast Track Scheme in Birmingham which will encourage councillors under 35 to join and rise quickly through the ranks. The initiative is the latest in a long line of proposals to make the role of councillor more attractive, such as better pay and conditions. As we often find, councillors have to give up their free time to join in full council discussions, and various committees.

Green Issues Website

Greenissues.com has been updated, to provide more information on the services we offer, and also to show how we can bring value to planning projects. If you would like further information on how we work, or to have an informal meeting (with no obligation) to find out how we could help you with your projects, contact Carla Bennett on carla@greenissues.com.

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For information on Corporate Social Responsibility, visit our website or contact Ian Thorn on iant@greenissues.com.

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