The image below illustrates the growth in online planning applications over the last few years. As you can see it has been remarkably steady.
We are now at what all business strategists would agree is the difficult 30%, the “late adopters”
It would be great to hear how you think we might tackle the businesses who have yet to join the party. Perhaps you could share your lightbulb moments, offer a testimonial or simply tell everyone when it was that your business flicked the digital switch.
Thanks to all the LPAs and presenters for braving the weather to attend our ‘Really Useful’ event on 13th February in Huddersfield.
Thanks also to Kirklees Council for providing excellent facilities and hosting the event free of charge.
With snow falling for the whole day, LPAs came from as far afield as Norwich for what was a useful and thought-provoking event.
Louise Tierney of Shropshire Council gave an insight into Project WIP – the council’s redesign of the planning services web pages and the key message of ‘designing for the customer and not the service area’. Read more…
Just spotted the launch of a series of events around the country where people are invited to go and have a chat and a cup of tea with local architects.
Launched by Gabrielle Omar, architect and former star of T.V’s The Apprentice. The sessions are described as a great opportunity to bring in ideas, designs and questions and benefit from a free consultation (and tea).
They are also looking for architects who might wish to offer their services.
Take a look at Tea with an Architect for more information.
Now where did I put those blueprints……..
Pie with a planner…..anyone!
I don’t know whether it’s my aftershave or our magnetic digital personality that attracts, but traffic to the Portal website continues to reach new heights.
In January there were almost 1.1 million visits to the site from more than 470,000 of you lovely people. That’s the same as filling Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium 10 times over and far more entertaining!!! (Forgive me I’m a Bradford City fan and these are high times.)
On a daily basis there are around 35,000 visits to the site and 300,000 page views.
All very gratifying.
Thanks
Birmingham City Council recently held its first electronic planning committee after ditching paper and using tablet computers.
Some of you may have read the city council started issuing tablet computers for its planning committee members as part of a pilot scheme in late November.
The six-month trial began at its 22nd November meeting, initially using the tablet devices in parallel with paper copies of agendas. Read more…
The Government has begun consulting on changes to current planning policy in relation to the strategic road network in general and roadside facilities like motorway service areas in particular.
One consequence of this initiative, signalled by roads minister Philip Hammond, would be the removal of the requirement for minimum distances between “signed roadside facilities”. Read more…
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced he is ‘minded’ to approve developer Fox Strategic Land’s proposals for a 280-dwelling development at Sandbach in Cheshire, subject to a “satisfactory” agreement on affordable housing provision.
The Secretary of State had earlier refused consent for the scheme, the subject of a recovered appeal, in September 2011, in line with Cheshire East Council’s opposition to the project. Read more…
Two major onshore wind farms with a combined capacity of over 110 megawatts have obtained planning approval – one in England and the other in Wales.
The larger of the two schemes was Ecotricity’s 22-turbine project at Heckington Fen in Lincolnshire. The 66 MW wind farm was the subject of section 36 Electricity Act 1989 consent from energy secretary Ed Davey. Read more…
Redevelopment plans for a former Derbyshire ironworks hit by fire last year and involving nearly 2,000 new homes and a 60-acre business park have been submitted to Erewash Borough Council.
The mixed-use scheme for the former Stanton Ironworks near the boundary between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire includes proposals for 1,950 new homes, retail units, restaurants, community facilities, a health centre, a 150-bed centre for the elderly, a primary school as well as office, warehouse and industrial units totalling some 70,000 square metres of floor space and new roads. Read more…
London mayor Boris Johnson has assembled a team of experts to assess the feasibility of the most realistic of the proposed new multi-runway hub airport projects for south-east England.
To date around 15 different proposals for a new hub airport in the South East have been made public. The Mayor has consulted on criteria that will be used to evaluate those proposals and establish a shortlist. Read more…
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