10 local planning authorities won’t be designated ‘at this time’ 

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Housing and planning minister Rachel Maclean has written to the 10 local planning authorities threatened with designation, noting the improved speed with which decisions were being made. 

On 12 April, housing secretary Michael Gove set out “significant concerns” about the performance of the local planning authorities in a letter to each of the 10 local planning authorities. 

On their performance percentages for meeting statutory determination timeliness between October 2020 and September 2022, which is below or “far below” the threshold of 70 per cent, Gove said it is “indicative of a very poor-quality service to local residents”. 

Deeming their performances “not good enough”, Gove said he was minded to designate each local planning authority. 

The criteria for decision-making mean that local planning authorities could face designation if they decide less than 70 per cent of non-major applications within the statutory period of eight weeks and less than 60 per cent of major applications within the statutory period of 13 weeks. 

Designating the councils would mean developers could submit planning applications directly to the Planning Inspectorate until the secretary of state is satisfied that acceptable performance can be, or has been, achieved. The Planning Inspectorate has been asked to prepare for designations over the summer. 

In letters to Cotswold District Council, Pendle Borough Council, and Waverley Borough Council, Maclean said she was “pleased” to note their performance on a rolling two-year average and for the most recent quarter – April to June 2023 – was above the required threshold. 

She was therefore “content not to designate your authority for poor performance at this time”, but would closely monitor each authority’s performance. 

The Vale of White Horse District Council recorded a performance for both major and non-major applications above the threshold for designation. As a result, Maclean said she would not designate the authority for poor performance at this time. 

She informed Calderdale Council, Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, Guildford Borough Council, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council,  Peak District National Park Authority and Portsmouth City Council that she was “pleased to note that for the most recent quarter April to June 2023”, each council performance exceeded the threshold. However, she was concerned that on a rolling two-year basis, performance remains below the 70 per cent threshold. 

She opted not to designate any of the local planning authorities, however, explaining that she recognised that to do so “may undermine the work your authority has already commenced and I wish to support your performance improvement”.  

The performances of the 10 local planning authorities 

• Calderdale Council – 97 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Cotswold District Council – 72 per cent rolling two-year average; 88 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Epsom & Ewell Borough Council – 66 per cent rolling two-year average; 95 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Guildford Borough Council – 55 per cent rolling two-year average; 82 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council – 55 per cent rolling two-year average; 90 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Peak District National Park Authority – 62 per cent rolling two-year average; 85 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Pendle Borough Council – 74 per cent rolling two-year average; 97 per cent for April to June 2023 

• Portsmouth City Council – 65 per cent rolling two-year average; 99 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Vale of White Horse District Council – 78 per cent for a two-year rolling average for non-major applications and 99 per cent April to June 2023; 68 per cent for a two-year rolling average for major applications and 93 per cent for April to June 2023 
• Waverley Borough Council – 71 per cent rolling two-year average; 97 per cent for April to June 2023 

Jackie King, chief executive at Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, said: “We are very pleased that the secretary of state has recognised the issues the council faced were historic and temporary in nature, and that the council has worked very hard to take significant proactive steps to address and improve them, resulting in our planning department far exceeding national targets over the past five consecutive quarters. We have a strong and stable team and systems in place and are very confident that we will continue to provide a high level of service, over and above what is expected, into the future.” 

Chief executive of the Peak District National Park Authority Phil Mulligan commented: “We warmly welcome the minister’s recognition of the hard work undertaken across more than a year to achieve figures for our planning responses that have now routinely exceeded the thresholds expected by government. Indeed, our most recent reporting quarter saw us reach an 85 per cent response rate against the 70 per cent requirement. 

“The authority has previously acknowledged that our own high standards were not met during an incredibly tough period of delivery during 2021 and into 2022, however in the last quarter, for example, we have approved well over 80 per cent of submitted applications. 

“In directly addressing the issues formerly raised by the minister and secretary of state over the last 12 months, we have already agreed a 25 per cent increase in funding capacity for our planning team and continue to recruit, retain and develop the highly specialist skills required to support customers in this vital area of our work.” 

Waverley Borough Council’s portfolio holder for planning & regeneration and economic development, Liz Townsend, said: “This is a real credit to the planning team at Waverley and the way they have pulled together and worked extremely hard over the past 18 months. We recognised that our performance levels had dipped and opted to tackle this head on by working in partnership with the Planning Advisory Service to improve our performance, streamline our internal processes and resolve the issues with our IT system. This has resulted in a significant uplift in performance, and we continue to make headway in reducing the backlog of applications. 

“Recruitment and retention will remain a significant challenge for us. The nationwide shortage of qualified planning officers and the cost-of-living crisis has had a serious impact in our area. However, together with our action plan, we have recently appointed an extremely experienced executive head of planning development to lead the team, and we are implementing a series of actions to help us continue to recruit the planners we need, to build on the strengths of our planning service and continue to maintain and improve our performance.” 

The letters can be found on the UK Government website.  

9 October 2023 
Laura Edgar, The Planner