Storer68
New member
so how come we are still being fecked about with ours.............
News Release 2004/0147:
25 June 2004
IMPROVED PLANNING PERFORMANCE GOOD FOR EVERYONE, SAYS HILL
Applications for new homes, shops and even household extensions are being dealt with faster, according to figures published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) today.
The planning performance checklist shows, for year-ending March 2004, there were substantial increases in the numbers of local authorities determining applications compared with year-end figures from six months ago.
Commenting on the figures, Planning Minister Keith Hill said:
"Whether a planning application is for a loft conversion or a new shopping centre it needs to be determined quickly and accurately. This is a very welcome improvement, and reflects the hard work that has gone on in planning departments across the country.
"These figures show more councils delivering an efficient, quality planning service to the communities they serve, and though there are still some authorities that need to pull their socks up, most are responding well.
"This is the first full measurement of a year of Planning Delivery Grant, for 2003/4, and the incentive effect of that resource is very clear. This year many authorities have received higher awards in recognition of their performance, and we expect to see that funding improving performance even further."
The figures show that performance has improved against all three planning application targets. A significant number of councils have increased their performance, and the number of poorer performers has also dropped.
Keith Hill said:
"It is encouraging to see that performance is improving, and the number of authorities who have performed badly has been dramatically reduced. What authorities need to do now is capitalise on and consolidate that progress so that there is more good news to report in another six months.
"We look very closely at struggling authorities to see what can be done. As well as increasing resources to reward good performance, we are engaging directly with authorities where performance needs to be improved. This has already proved an invaluable tool in getting standards up, and we will continue to work closely with councils to achieve the targets. Next year we will be significantly raising the thresholds for designating standards authorities as we look to increase the rate of performance improvement towards meeting the targets."
Notes to Editors
1. The half-yearly Planning Performance Checklist of local authorities’ handling of planning applications was published today. It shows at a glance how local planning authorities were reaching decisions on planning applications in the year ending March 2004. The checklist shows performance against the three handling targets set from 1 April 2002 to emphasise the need for timely handling of major applications.
2. In the year ending March 2004, local planning authorities determined, on average, 52 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks, 61 per cent of minor planning applications and 78 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These reflect an improvement of 4 percentage points for processing major applications, a 3 percentage point increase for determining minor applications, and a 2 percentage point increase for determining other applications from the previous Planning Performance Checklist published in December 2003, based on performance in the year ending September 2003.
3. 118 out of 362 planning authorities met or surpassed the Government's target of deciding 60 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks; 155 met the target of deciding 65 per cent of minor planning applications within 8 weeks, and 178 met the target of deciding 80 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These mark a substantial improvement in performance from the previous Planning Performance Checklist when 83 authorities met the target for deciding major applications, 121 authorities met the target for deciding minor applications, and 142 authorities met the target for deciding other applications.
4. 139 planning authorities are classified as improvers,18 more than in the previous Checklist published last December. Over half of these have been driven to higher performance by the use of Best Value performance standards set for 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04.
5. 22 planning authorities are classified as poor performers, 12 fewer than in the previous Checklist. None of the 78 authorities selected to achieve Best Value performance standards in 2002/03 appear here as poor performers. Only 2 of the 90 authorities selected to achieve Best Value performance standards in 2003/04 appear on this poor performers list. A further 9 authorities are earmarked for performance intervention under the proposed Best Value performance standards for 2004/05
6. The targets for handling applications are as follows:
60 per cent of major residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 13 weeks;
65 per cent of minor residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 8 weeks;
80 per cent of all other applications to be determined within 8 weeks.
7. These three new targets which came into effect on 1 April 2002 have replaced the previous single target of 80 per cent of all applications to be determined within 8 weeks.
8. Data on performance in the year ending March 2004 are presented in the following three tables:
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
9. Authorities are ranked according to their current performance against the Government's new target for determining major planning applications. Performance on the minor and other applications targets are set alongside the ranked distribution on performance in determining major applications.
10. Planning decisions on major developments include those involving 10 or more new dwellings and office, industrial and retail developments involving 1,000 square metres of floorspace or where site areas are 1 hectare or over. Developments under these new dwellings and floorspace thresholds are categorised as minor developments. Planning decisions on other developments include householder, change of use, listed building and conservation consents and applications to display advertisements.
11. Table 1 shows, for comparative purposes, performance figures for each local planning authority in the twelve-month period reported in the previous Checklist. The figures in Tables 1 to 3 exclude decisions on ‘county matters’ applications taken by metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, London boroughs and National Parks. Table 2 shows those authorities whose performance has improved significantly. Criteria for inclusion are:
the weighted average performance in deciding major, minor and other applications has increased in each of the two most recent years, ie from the year ending March 2002 to the year ending March 2003 and from the year ending March 2003 to the year ending March 2004;
the overall increase in the weighted average performance over the two year period is at least five percentage points; and
authorities have submitted all relevant quarterly returns for the period covered by the table.
12. Table 3 shows those authorities whose performance has worsened significantly.
Criteria for inclusion are:
the weighted average performance in deciding major, minor and other applications has decreased by at least 10 percentage points in either of the two most recent years, ie from the year ending March 2002 to the year ending March 2003 or from the year ending March 2003 to the year ending March 2004;
the overall decrease in the weighted average performance over the two year period is at least five percentage points.
13. The proposed planning standards authority thresholds for designating an authority under Best Value, and the standards that any designated authority will be required to achieve, for next year and 2006/7 are given here, as a guide for authorities.Table 4
14. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) has for many years published details of local planning authorities' performance in deciding planning applications on both a quarterly and an annual basis. This service will continue to be provided. The Checklist aims to highlight information from the GSS publications which is of particular interest to the general public.
News Release 2004/0147:
25 June 2004
IMPROVED PLANNING PERFORMANCE GOOD FOR EVERYONE, SAYS HILL
Applications for new homes, shops and even household extensions are being dealt with faster, according to figures published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) today.
The planning performance checklist shows, for year-ending March 2004, there were substantial increases in the numbers of local authorities determining applications compared with year-end figures from six months ago.
Commenting on the figures, Planning Minister Keith Hill said:
"Whether a planning application is for a loft conversion or a new shopping centre it needs to be determined quickly and accurately. This is a very welcome improvement, and reflects the hard work that has gone on in planning departments across the country.
"These figures show more councils delivering an efficient, quality planning service to the communities they serve, and though there are still some authorities that need to pull their socks up, most are responding well.
"This is the first full measurement of a year of Planning Delivery Grant, for 2003/4, and the incentive effect of that resource is very clear. This year many authorities have received higher awards in recognition of their performance, and we expect to see that funding improving performance even further."
The figures show that performance has improved against all three planning application targets. A significant number of councils have increased their performance, and the number of poorer performers has also dropped.
Keith Hill said:
"It is encouraging to see that performance is improving, and the number of authorities who have performed badly has been dramatically reduced. What authorities need to do now is capitalise on and consolidate that progress so that there is more good news to report in another six months.
"We look very closely at struggling authorities to see what can be done. As well as increasing resources to reward good performance, we are engaging directly with authorities where performance needs to be improved. This has already proved an invaluable tool in getting standards up, and we will continue to work closely with councils to achieve the targets. Next year we will be significantly raising the thresholds for designating standards authorities as we look to increase the rate of performance improvement towards meeting the targets."
Notes to Editors
1. The half-yearly Planning Performance Checklist of local authorities’ handling of planning applications was published today. It shows at a glance how local planning authorities were reaching decisions on planning applications in the year ending March 2004. The checklist shows performance against the three handling targets set from 1 April 2002 to emphasise the need for timely handling of major applications.
2. In the year ending March 2004, local planning authorities determined, on average, 52 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks, 61 per cent of minor planning applications and 78 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These reflect an improvement of 4 percentage points for processing major applications, a 3 percentage point increase for determining minor applications, and a 2 percentage point increase for determining other applications from the previous Planning Performance Checklist published in December 2003, based on performance in the year ending September 2003.
3. 118 out of 362 planning authorities met or surpassed the Government's target of deciding 60 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks; 155 met the target of deciding 65 per cent of minor planning applications within 8 weeks, and 178 met the target of deciding 80 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These mark a substantial improvement in performance from the previous Planning Performance Checklist when 83 authorities met the target for deciding major applications, 121 authorities met the target for deciding minor applications, and 142 authorities met the target for deciding other applications.
4. 139 planning authorities are classified as improvers,18 more than in the previous Checklist published last December. Over half of these have been driven to higher performance by the use of Best Value performance standards set for 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04.
5. 22 planning authorities are classified as poor performers, 12 fewer than in the previous Checklist. None of the 78 authorities selected to achieve Best Value performance standards in 2002/03 appear here as poor performers. Only 2 of the 90 authorities selected to achieve Best Value performance standards in 2003/04 appear on this poor performers list. A further 9 authorities are earmarked for performance intervention under the proposed Best Value performance standards for 2004/05
6. The targets for handling applications are as follows:
60 per cent of major residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 13 weeks;
65 per cent of minor residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 8 weeks;
80 per cent of all other applications to be determined within 8 weeks.
7. These three new targets which came into effect on 1 April 2002 have replaced the previous single target of 80 per cent of all applications to be determined within 8 weeks.
8. Data on performance in the year ending March 2004 are presented in the following three tables:
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
9. Authorities are ranked according to their current performance against the Government's new target for determining major planning applications. Performance on the minor and other applications targets are set alongside the ranked distribution on performance in determining major applications.
10. Planning decisions on major developments include those involving 10 or more new dwellings and office, industrial and retail developments involving 1,000 square metres of floorspace or where site areas are 1 hectare or over. Developments under these new dwellings and floorspace thresholds are categorised as minor developments. Planning decisions on other developments include householder, change of use, listed building and conservation consents and applications to display advertisements.
11. Table 1 shows, for comparative purposes, performance figures for each local planning authority in the twelve-month period reported in the previous Checklist. The figures in Tables 1 to 3 exclude decisions on ‘county matters’ applications taken by metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, London boroughs and National Parks. Table 2 shows those authorities whose performance has improved significantly. Criteria for inclusion are:
the weighted average performance in deciding major, minor and other applications has increased in each of the two most recent years, ie from the year ending March 2002 to the year ending March 2003 and from the year ending March 2003 to the year ending March 2004;
the overall increase in the weighted average performance over the two year period is at least five percentage points; and
authorities have submitted all relevant quarterly returns for the period covered by the table.
12. Table 3 shows those authorities whose performance has worsened significantly.
Criteria for inclusion are:
the weighted average performance in deciding major, minor and other applications has decreased by at least 10 percentage points in either of the two most recent years, ie from the year ending March 2002 to the year ending March 2003 or from the year ending March 2003 to the year ending March 2004;
the overall decrease in the weighted average performance over the two year period is at least five percentage points.
13. The proposed planning standards authority thresholds for designating an authority under Best Value, and the standards that any designated authority will be required to achieve, for next year and 2006/7 are given here, as a guide for authorities.Table 4
14. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) has for many years published details of local planning authorities' performance in deciding planning applications on both a quarterly and an annual basis. This service will continue to be provided. The Checklist aims to highlight information from the GSS publications which is of particular interest to the general public.
