66 PLANNING ENFORCEMENT UPDATE (1:03) PDF 225 KB
To receive an update following a report to the Committee in May.
Minutes:
The Committee had before it a report * from the Head of Planning and Regeneration regarding Planning Enforcement.
The Area Planning Officer outlined the contents of the report which updated Members on progress made since a report from May 2016 which had detailed various measures for improvement within the service.
The officer explained that since the initial review, progress had been made in many areas, although it was recognised that this improvement journey was not yet complete and that the service would wish to continue to address the actions on the list as well as identifying new areas for continual improvement.
Discussion took place regarding Data Protection training that had been undertaken by officers. This had been arranged following concerns raised by Members that officers were using Data Protection as a way to justify non-sharing of information. The training had been put in place in order that officers could be certain what information could not be shared to allow them to be confident to share anything else.
Members were informed that a new Enforcement Officer had been appointed recently and that another part time officer was due to start shortly. This would bring the current structure to 2.5 FTE, although a restructure was being considered in order to allow the Planning Service to respond to the requirements placed upon it.
Measures had been put in place to speed up the process for Section 106 Agreements.
Benchmarking had been undertaken and officers had looked into what performance indicators were used by other authorities. Most English authorities did not have them but Welsh authorities did and these were being looked into.
Officers would investigate how performance indicators and performance reports could be extracted to update Members and then be disseminated on to Town and Parish Councils.
The Chief Executive indicated that he would like to see the restructure of the Planning Service in place for the new financial year.
Note: -* Report previously circulated and attached to Minutes.