Planning Review - Scope as at 20th Nov 2002
The overall scope is to include all the services which fall within Planning, but they will be covered to different degrees, in line with the structure below.
The review will be structured at three levels.
1. A high-level analysis to consider planning in its cross-cutting role, and how it contributes to the Corporate objectives of the Authority, and the community strategy. This will include looking at its impact on Tourism, Economic Development, Highways, the Environment etc, and how it works in a pro-active way with other departments and outside partners such as Parish Councils. This level will include Planning Policy and the impact of the UDP (or its replacement).
2. The second level will include an in-depth review of the processes involved in Development Control, Building Control, and the existing procedures for the protection of trees.
The first two are the primary public-facing services within planning, and all three are areas which receive the most public comment.
3. The third level will be a lighter touch review of Countryside, AONB, and Archaeology which will concentrate on investigating ways to help to raise their profile and to extend their links with other Council departments.
This level will also look at the role of admin and support, and consider the use of information in general to help the public to understand more about the role of planning, and the processes involved.
Member involvement in planning will feature in all three levels.
Each level, where appropriate, will be reviewed using a set of criteria which are based on a recent Audit Commission summary of 53 BV reviews of Planning carried out by Local Authorities and then inspected. This highlighted 5 key areas in which authorities should be taking action. They are :
Focussing on what matters to local people - reshaping the development plan; taking a wider view of community requirements, rather than an ad-hoc approach to infrastructure improvements; and developing consultation into a more effective process.
Assuring the quality of development - appraising the results delivered by the development plan, and the effectiveness of development control; and carrying out effective enforcement
Enhancing customer care - developing a customer focus (which links strongly with the Connecting with the Public review) including work on pre-applications, and electronic service delivery.
Reducing delay in development control - removing weaknesses in business processes and making the best possible use of delegated powers.
Reinforcing management systems to assure quality - using support staff and enhanced ICT; increasing partnership working; using external resources appropriately, particularly to deal with workload peaks and specialist tasks; and improving guidance for members.
The review will also take into account issues such as Section 17 of the Crime & Disorder Act, equal opportunities and equal access, and sustainability, to the extent that they are not already covered above.