Planning application delays
Planning Application Delays January 2025
Following the recent delays we have experienced in planning, we have taken a number of steps to reduce the backlog, these include the recruitment of additional staff in both our Administration and Planning Officer Teams, along with this we have made a number of changes to our internal operating procedures.
From the 1st September 2023 – 31 January 2024 we have registered 442 applications, notifications and enquires, and we have issued 432 decisions.
Of the decisions issued 28% of those applications were initially made invalid on receipt largely due to insufficient or inadequate information being submitted for assessment.
22% of the applications determined required amendments post validation in order for a favourable recommendation to be issued.
We are also now reviewing all live data on a weekly basis and prioritising applications, firstly based on whether a decision is ready to be issued and then in date order so that the older applications are being determined first.
In order for officers to fully dedicate time to writing reports you will notice that there will be times when you will receive an out of office to an email or your call will be diverted to a voicemail, this is to ensure that we maintain the work that we have done, applications are being registered more quickly and decisions are being issued.
At the point that your application is prioritised you will receive contact from your case officer, please note that if your application is not prioritised our current timescales for responding to phone calls and emails is 10 working days.
For more general planning queries we are operating a Duty Phone service at the moment, where you are able to call and speak to an Officer between the hours of 11am - 1pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week by calling 01664 502427. Please note that access to this service is limited to these specified hours and there is no ability to call or leave a voicemail outside of these times.
We thank you for your continued patience, and whilst we realise we still have a backlog of applications to determine, the steps that we have taken already and are continuing to take will significantly reduce the backlog and move us more towards a place where we are turning matters around more quickly.