Minutes:
Nick Harding provided an up date with regards to performance and staffing situation in the Planning department.
Validation
3 week backlog
Planning Applications
Major - 80%
Minor - 66%
Other - 85%
He added that all of the vacant Senior Posts have now been filled apart from one and a vacancy for a Principal Planning Officer is being readvertised.
John Maxey stated that he has been made aware of the delays being caused with major applications and Section 106 agreements appears to be due to the Legal Team. Nick Harding explained that PCC have vacancies in their Legal Team and the team at PCC are providing a spreadsheet on a monthly basis which will detail the progress on applications that they are dealing with on behalf of Fenland. He explained that Fenland have written to the Executive Director that covers the legal service at the County Council to relate the concerns that Fenland has with regards to the County Council over complicating matters and this is being looked into.
Councillor Mrs Laws stated that the County Council appears to be the main issue which she knows is being addressed.
Councillor Mrs Laws referred to validation and praised the staff who have been working hard to reduce the delays with validation.
She asked Nick Harding to provide data on how agents and developers are performing with regards to validation, and she added that at one point it was 4% right first time and then it increased to 9%, however Fenland has the lowest figure for local councils getting it right first time. Nick Harding agreed to provide the data and share it.
Tim Slater referred to a recent Planning Committee meeting where members had made it clear that applications would be refused where information was missing to enable them to be determined. He added that it was stated that agents and developers would not be contacted to request the missing information and he explained that it is his view that if information is required then it should be on the validation list and if it is not present, It should not be validated. He added that it is his understanding that there is 28 day time period following a submission of an application in which information that is required can be provided and he was very concerned to hear the statement made by the Committee.
Nick Harding stated that the actions taken need to be measured and considered and there are number of elements that need to be looked at.
He explained that there may be an application which is submitted, and it contains enough information which means it is sufficient to be made valid but it is an application where it is felt that the best course of action is to determine it sooner rather than later. He added that there are other applications which is almost in an approvable condition and in those cases, officers would look to work with and resolve the issues as much as possible.
Nick Harding explained that there are also those applications which fall into the middle of the spectrum and there is no way around that. He added that he needs to review this issue further with a look to devising a solution which is acceptable to members and currently any application which is recommended for refusal is consulted on with the Chairman of Planning Committee.
John Maxey stated if an application is going to be refused because a particular piece of information has not been submitted and it has not been asked for, regardless of what side of the scale it is on, he does not agree with the situation. He added that if it is an application which is going to be refused anyway, he agrees that there is no point in asking for the document and officers should say that it is not an acceptable form of development and it is refused, but you don’t refuse it because the extra information has not been provided. He expressed the view that if there is an application is submitted and officers feel that the extra information would make the proposal more approvable then an extension of time could be considered to receive the information and then determine the application once the information is presented. He stated that just to refuse an application be because the information has not been provided and the application is valid is not an acceptable position.