I am delighted to let you know that we will be introducing the online version of the Non-Material Amendment form on Thursday 13th March.
The form development is complete and has been released on to our ‘test’ website for final checks and review.
We’re delighted to be able to deliver this form as it’s something that many of you have been asking for – both applicants and LPAs.
Thank you for your patience while we delivered this – it’s been part of a much larger project to improve the technical foundations of the 1APP application suite.
Please note: at the moment the NMA form is for LPAs in England only.
Following our earlier post about amendments to the Community Infrastructure Levy regulations (CIL) that came into force today, we can confirm that the new regulations can be accessed here.
We have also amended the existing CIL forms to reflect the new regulations and added forms to cater for the new exemption for self-build housing.
The Planning Portal’s content team has produced a short guidance note with links to the most commonly requested planning and building control content on the website.
Simple but effective linking can save LPAs time and money. Based on a sample of local authorities completing a recent Socitm study, it costs £8.62 per visit for face-to-face interaction and £2.83 per phone call – but just £0.15 per visit if customers use the council website instead.
However, according to the Socitm research, many self-service council site visits are failing their customers.
Improving citizen ‘self-service’ is one of the main ways of reducing call and face-to-face volumes without reducing customer satisfaction. Another is reducing the number of ‘avoidable calls’.
Both these aims can be met through effective website linking strategies. For example, following recent reviews of council websites as part of our Smarter Planning initiative, we often notice that councils link to the Portal homepage for planning applications rather than the specific ‘Apply’ page – http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/apply.
This can confuse the customer journey and lead to additional – and avoidable – contact.
You can download the guidance note, which contains links to download graphics for buttons and HTML to embed the interactive guides on your website, here: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/lpalinks.pdf
Update: just a reminder that there are still a few places left on these events. If you submit major applications and are interested in the introduction of SuDS these are events will be extremely, informative.
Information on how to register is in the post below.
Earlier this year Defra minister Dan Rogerson confirmed the Government plans to introduce the necessary legislation for SuDS by April 2014 and bring it into force as soon as possible after that.
Defra has been working with the Portal to provide a facility to submit SuDS applications – either with an online or paper planning application or separately as a standalone paper application. The introduction of SuDS only affects major applications so these events are best suited for developers.
To understand the latest progress with SuDS and the proposed solution for submission, we are holding a number of events for developers. Read more…
You may be aware that the Government is amending the Community Infrastructure Levy regulations.
Subject to the Parliamentary approval process, the new regulations are expected to come into force in February.
Among other changes, the regulations will introduce an exemption for self builders and provide for additional flexibility around the re-use of vacant buildings.
The draft regulations are available on the Legislation.gov.uk website.
The Portal will publish an application form for self-build exemption claims (for people building or extending their own home) when the regulations come into force.
We will also be updating our current CIL guidance and amending existing CIL forms to reflect the new regulations.
On Wednesday 5 February 2014 Durham Council will integrate their new planning back-office system with the Portal’s online application service. This effectively means that the existing seven area offices and the county on the Portal will be removed and replaced with a single Durham Council authority. Read more…
Eastbourne Borough Council has made radical changes to the way it works. The result is the implementation of a paperless, multi-channel, customer contact case management system for use across council departments – including development control and planning policy functions.
In the first blog post we looked at the background to the changes. Here we look at the practicalities of paperless working.
Key elements of the move were the development of the remote server access and the ‘locked-down’ post room, where the rule that no paper leaves is strictly enforced.
All incoming post, including planning applications submitted on paper, are scanned and placed into ‘work trays’ alongside electronically submitted applications, ready to be dealt with on-screen. Read more…
This week we introduced a new form to our ever-expanding suite.
The Government has been consulting on making improvements to the process for planning applications for handling the extraction of onshore oil and gas (including shale gas) developments.
On the 20 December 2013, secondary legislation was laid in relation to application requirements. Unlike other forms of development, applications for planning permission for minerals were made on an application form provided by the individual mineral planning authority. Read more…
Eastbourne Borough Council has made radical changes to the way it works. The result is the implementation of a paperless, multi-channel, customer contact case management system for use across council departments – including development control and planning policy functions.
In this first blog post we look at the background to the changes. A second part will look at the practicalities of paperless working.
In 2008 Eastbourne Borough Council’s received a poor comprehensive area assessment (CAA) report. The council’s response was to begin planning what it called the DRIVE programme – Delivering Real Innovation and Value for Eastbourne. Read more…
Headline Statistics
Between July and September 2013 district level planning authorities in England:
- decided 114,000 planning applications, 3 per cent higher than in the same quarter in the previous year
- granted 93,500 permissions, 4 per cent higher than in the same quarter in 2012
- granted 88 per cent of applications, compared with 87 per cent in the same quarter in 2012
- 69 per cent of major applications were processed within 13 weeks, compared with 57 per cent in the same quarter in 2012
- LPAs decided 10 per cent more residential decisions compared to the September quarter 2012, with numbers of major decisions (10 or more dwellings) up by 42 per cent
- the number of applications received increased by 5 per cent compared to the June 2013 quarter, while the number of applications decided and granted in the September 2013 quarter both increased by 4 per cent and 4 per cent respectively from the corresponding numbers in the June 2013 quarter
More information is available from the statistical release and accompanying live table.
Planning Portal Statistics
In this period you submitted 91,970 online applications – an increase of 18% on the same period last year, making the percentage of applications for Q2 2013/14 a fantastic 73.7%
Planning Portal Blog 