I would just like to say a short thank you to all of you who voted for me in the recent Digital Leaders awards.
I was thrilled to reach the top 10 and not too dissapointed not to be the overall winner!
Details of all the winners can be found on the Digital By Default News website.
That headline comes from a LocalGov.co.uk article published last week:
Councils could account for one-tenth of massive £3bn savings predicted to be made across the entire public sector next year by shifting more transactions to lower-cost digital channels, a comprehensive survey has revealed.
Research commissioned by GOSS Interactive, based on a survey of 575 senior executives from 480 public sector organisations, shows local government could achieve potential £300m efficiencies next year by moving a fuller share of interactions to websites, mobile phones, social media and SMS services.
If you still have any doubt about the value of channel shift, here’s another key bit of data from the article:
Anthony Peake, marketing director of Goss Interactive and author of the report said: ‘With face to face transactions costing on average £8.62, telephone interactions costing £2.83 and online digital interactions costing less than 15p, the evidence of channel shift activity and the results anticipated, are very encouraging.
Our account team continues to support local authorities shift to online ways of working through our Smarter Planning scheme.
We’ve worked very hard with local authorities over the last 10 years or so on channel shift and we’ve been grateful for the enthusiasm and patience of (most) local authorities who have joined us on the journey.
However, it’s only when you read headlines like the one above that you realise how far we’ve all come.
As my original post back in March generated so much interest I thought I would bring you up to date on current progress with the vertical forest.
The following images were received this morning direct from the architects office Boeri Studio, whose partners Stefano Boeri, Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra have been in business together since 2007.
You might recall that in February 2012 I reported that we had passed the 1 million online applications milestone.
It had taken 10 years of hard work to reach that point but he we are a mere 18 months later having notched up another half million.
Of course the number means little in itself but it does indicate that the planning system is well on its way to becoming ‘Digital by Default’ and it equates to savings by local authorities and applicants of more than £400m.
We are now running at around 75% of planning applications online and we’re handling a greater volume of applications than ever before.
Thanks to all our customers and partners especially in Local Authorities for helping us move forward despite all the difficulties along the way.
The Planning Portal has added a ‘major development’ question to the online planning application process. This is to support future development work.
All users in England and Wales will now be asked to indicate whether their application is for a major development. The definition of what constitutes a major development is available in the ‘Help’ text.
The new question will be presented within the application chooser, once the applicant has selected the application type. The question will apply to all application forms that can be used to submit a major development. They are:
- 04. Full
- 05. Outline planning permission with some matters reserved
- 06. Outline planning permission with all matters reserved
- 07. Full and relevant demolition in a conservation
- 08. Full and listed building consent
- 09. Full and consent to display an advertisement(s)
- 10. Relevant demolition in a conservation area
- 23. Approval of reserved matters following outline approval
- 25. Removal or variation of a condition following grant of planning permission
- 27. Approval of details reserved by condition
Tree surgeons and arborists in London and the surrounding area are invited to attend our latest event on 13 November.
In recent months the London Borough planning authorities have been working with the Portal to improve the services they provide while reducing waste, costs and red tape.
The London Boroughs are now encouraging all applications for works to trees to be submitted online using the Portal. The event is being held to demonstrate the savings that can be made.
We’re especially encouraging those who currently submit on paper by post to attend – if you’re already submitting online you won’t get as much out of the day.
The event is free and sessions will include:
- How submitting tree applications online will save money and provide a competitive edge for you and your company
- A talk about the benefits one specialist tree company has realised through regularly submitting applications via the Portal
- A day in the life of a tree officer – offering an insight into a local authority tree officer’s working day
The event is taking place on Wednesday 13 November 2013. The venue is the Lord Mayor’s Reception Rooms, Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP.
There are two sessions. The first session starts at 10am (registration from 9.30am) and finishes at 12.30pm. The second session starts at 1.30pm (registration at 1.00pm) and finishes at 4pm.
Places are limited so we advise you to register ASAP .
I hope you’ll forgive another blog post about payment and online planning applications. It’s something we spend a lot of time thinking about at the Portal and, as ever, I hope to provide a few more solutions with each post.
Last year we introduced an additional service for LPAs to help them manage which payment types they support for online applications.
This made it easier for LPAs to update their own information and configure different options when new payment types become available.
As part of our work with LPAs over the last few years, we’ve been encouraging greater electronic working and identifying what the common reasons are for invalidating applications. Read more…
We launched our Smarter Planning initiative a year ago this week so I thought I’d bring you up to speed on the progress in the last 12 months.
Smarter Planning is a partnership between planning agents, local planning authorities and the Portal. It’s a recognition that the industry needs to work together to streamline and improve the planning process.
By pledging a commitment to the Smarter Planning scheme, participants will have access to free training, best practice guidance and advice from the Planning Portal.
In the last 12 months our account management team has been working with professionals and LPAs to help them improve their processes for online application submission.
As soon as they meet the criteria they are designated Smarter Planning Champions.
Planning professionals
Since last October, 212 planning and building professionals have met the criteria of the scheme and have been awarded Smarter Planning Champion status. All have received support and training and are reaping the benefits derived from electronic submission of planning applications.
The 212 breaks down like this:
- 56.7% are sole practitioners
- 32.5% are SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises)
- 10.8% large corporate users
More information about the professional scheme is available from the Smarter Planning page on the Portal. We also maintain and publish a list of practitioners and companies that have achieved Smarter Planning Champion status.
Local planning authorities
In the same time period we’ve awarded Smarter Planning status to 40 LPAs and are working with a further 62 to help them improve their business processes with electronic applications.
Again, if you want to learn more about becoming a Smarter Planning Champion you can find more information on the Portal and register your interest.
I’m back in the swing of things after a few days r‘n’r in Budapest (what a wonderful city) and I find the team have been as productive as ever. Nothing to do with 1APP this time but with deliveries of a far more personal nature.
In the last few months we’ve had no less than three of the guys in our team becoming dads, two in the last two weeks and both from our tech support team, so please be kind if you have occasion to call our support desk and they’re sounding a little less alert than usual.
We are also continuing to work hard to identify a partner to join us in our employee-led bid to take on the future running of the business following DCLG’s decision to commercialise the Portal.
It’s a very exciting time and we’re deeply gratified to have had so much interest in working with us to develop a bid. There is no guarantee that we’ll win but having a great partner will definitely help.
Finally, the closing date for voting in the Digital Leaders Awards is upon us. I’ve voted for Stephen Hilton at Bristol City Council Futures Group but there are lots of great candidates in central and local government including my good self.
Since the launch of the Smarter Planning (SP) scheme in November last year 205 organisations have achieved SP Champion status by consistently meeting the best practice guidelines of the scheme and submitting all applications online. 116 (56.5%) of these are sole practitioners, 69 (33.6%) SMEs and 20 (9.75%) larger agents.
Our busy Account Management (AM) team have been working closely with a specific group of these larger agents and their work with these organisations continues to have a positive impact. In the last 3-months many of them submitted more online applications in one month than they submitted in any previous month. So far 3 have achieved SP Champion status. The first was Jones Lang LaSalle in January 2013, closely followed by Barton Willmore and Bartlett Tree Experts
Corporate SP Champions are a rare breed because Champion status can only be achieved when their senior executive accepts the principles of the scheme and authorises the training of all appropriate staff in each regional office to ensure they are equipped to fully utilise the Portal. Once trained user applications are monitored to see if they continue to meet the guidelines and adhere to their organisations commitment to submit all possible planning applications online before the status is awarded.
Since becoming the first Corporate SP Champions these organisations have almost doubled (+99.4%) their online submission rates. Based on recent performance and assuming similar levels of business activity, the group is set to submit almost the same number of applications in the remaining 6-months of 2013/14 as they did in the 12-months prior to achieving SP Champions status.
The AMs aim to award Champion status to a further 5 of the targeted accounts by the end of October 2013, one year on from the launch of the scheme. When recruited this group will submit an estimated 1,800 – 2,000 additional online applications/annum. These additional online submissions will help us meet this year’s KPI-1 target – 74% of all applications online by March 2014.
So what’s so smart about being an SP Champion?
Planning Portal Blog 