Over recent months the Planning Portal has been working closely with local authorities by holding work shops for planning professionals that wish to learn more about submitting applications online.
The events which have been held at council offices have proved successful and feedback has been very positive.
The workshops have been an opportunity for paper submitting agents to see how the planning portal can help them and save money on each application, learn more about the tools available, as well as the chance for a Q&A session at the end of the workshop.
The next event scheduled to run is:
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Friday 11th February 2011
A member of the Portal team will be on hand to answer any questions regarding other tools featured on the site, and provide any one-to-one assistance with individual queries about our services.
There will also be an opportunity for general planning queries to be discussed with representatives from the local planning authority.
Alternatively if you are from a local authority and interested in working with us to drive e-planning please contact Scott Alford at scott.alford@planningportal.gsi.gov.uk
As you are aware, we are constantly looking at ways to improve our site and so I thought you may be interested to see some of the changes we made during our most recent update.
You can view a full list of the changes in this pdf
I hope you find it interesting and informative and, as always, if you have any suggestions as to how we can communicate this information better, we would like to hear them.
Aztech Architecture have just become the 20th business to take the ‘Carbon Pledge’.
Essentially the pledge represents a promise to submit all planning applications online, thereby reducing the environmental cost of the process. Whilst individually this may seem like a pointless exercise it is worth noting that in 2010 e-planning took more than 20,000 tonnes of CO2 out of the application process. 2.9 tonnes of which came from a single planning application.
In return for saving the planet each business is entitled to use the ‘Planning for a Greener future’ logo on their websites, stationery and marketing material.
Many of the companies display copies of the Pledge on their premises and we publish their details on the Portal.
I’d like to encourage as many companies as possible to use our Carbon Calculator to accurately establish the CO2 savings you have (or might in future) achieve.
You can use this information to then beef up the results in your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) statements which are seen by many as a means of winning new business in a market increasingly aware of all things green.
To find out more please contact our own jolly green giant, Stuart Mockford.
Thought you might be interested to know who’s been making the running in running down paper.
Almost 70% of LPAs received more than 40% of their applications online during Q2 2010, with 98 LPAs receiving more than 50% of their applications online.
The top 20 were
Ealing 96.0%
Hinckley and Bosworth 79.7%
Cotswold 68.3%
Hackney 68.2%
Lambeth 67.0%
Hartlepool UA 66.7%
Brecon Beacons NPA 65.5%
Islington 64.9%
North West Leicestershire 64.1%
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk 63.0%
Coventry 62.2%
Newcastle upon Tyne 61.5%
Hammersmith and Fulham 61.5%
Southwark 61.3%
Stratford-on-Avon 60.8%
Newcastle-under-Lyme 60.7%
Hastings 60.7%
Hambleton 60.2%
Southampton UA 60.1%
Charnwood 59.7%
The Portal like everyone else is feeling the squeeze, so I hope you’ll forgive me saying a quick thank you to the following folks who have recently helped us out by sponsoring the site.
Not that it is in any way altruistic as we are the number 1 website in our sector don’t you know.
The following businesses have become the first to take up sponsorship of the Interactive Mini Guides and associated content pages. Each sponsor has exposure on the relevant content page, the Interactive Mini Guide and the downloadable PDF of that Mini Guide content.
As of today Betternest have taken up residency in the Extensions
Absolute Lofts are where you might expect them to be all over Loft Conversions and the and The Stable Company – have bolted into Outbuildings
We still have opportunities to sponsor the following Mini Guides:
• Conservatories
• Porches
• Satellites and Antenna
So please get in touch to find out more.
‘Betternest’ have enhanced their friend of the Portal status no end by continuing to sponsor the Interactive House until the end of March whilst we welcome lawyers and barristers No5 Chambers, who have chosen to sponsor the “Planning” area of the site.
If you’d like to join our ever growing band of friends please contact Guy Funnell in our commercial team by email or on 0117 372 8232
Despite the gloomy outlook or perhaps because of it the total number of electronic planning applications soared again in 2010.
There were in total 229,065 planning applications submitted via The Planning Portal compared with 160,825 in 2009 an increase of 42%.
The graph below illustrates the year on year growth of electronic planning application submissions which in addition to the obvious economic benefits also delivers close to 3,000 tonnes of CO2 savings.
Stats by Dan the Statsman
Sorry, but it’s time to talk the the “L” word. Localism that is, not love although being the festive season a little bit of both wouldn’t go amiss.
Assuming that the Portal survives the icy blast of the spending review then I hope we’ll play our part in enabling the agenda.
We’ve certainly got the communication channels to reach neighbourhoods with information and tools and we’ve got the links to LPA websites (both technical and relational) to ‘link things up’. However the question is: in a time of decentralisation what should our role be?
Should we provide information only or would tools and forms help? (Don’t forget we can build them once and use them for many.)
What about lessons learned? As people and communities start to develop local plans should the Portal provide a place for sharing lessons, best practice, tips and tricks or leave it all alone and let something evolve by itself?
I’d love to hear your views.
Chris
As you’ve wandered around the new site layout I hope you’ll have noticed a broader range of companies now advertising with us.
We’ve re-jigged the spaces and opportunities available to make them more targeted and therefore more useful to advertisers.
I hope you don’t find the ads are too obtrusive but if we are going to stay in business we’ve got to find a way of ensuring the business community contributes to the benefit it receives from the Portal.
So thanks then to UKBifold Doors who have chosen to sponsor our homepage and specific content areas and to Betternest who have chosen to sponsor the Interactive House as a means to make people aware of their own exciting solution to the question “Do I need planning permission?”
Energy efficiency specialists Geothermique are advertising in one of our popular common projects area and lawyers Bircham Dyson Bell are advertising on our ‘Planning’ tab.
Newsletter advertisements are also proving popular with many spaces taken for the next few months.
If you’re interested in reaching our customers in the new year then please contact our commercial team directly on 0117 372 8232 or sales@planningportal.gsi.gov.uk
Thanks
Chris
First I’d like to apologise for the lack of content recently. The problem is that in common with many of our colleagues we’re in a period of limbo at the moment while we wait to hear our fate in the Comprehensive Spending Review. We’ve submitted a business case for the next four years and we wait with bated breath.
Meanwhile, we are still beavering away trying to encourage as much online submission as possible and trying to play our part in communicating the ever-changing planning landscape.
On that topic, you may be aware that DCLG is currently consulting on the subject of localisation of planning application fees.
I would like to encourage you to make your views known on the topic. For example, if you submit planning applications to more than one local authority you might like to consider the impact of differentiated fees on the usability of the electronic system.
Meanwhile, if you’re a local planning authority, I’d like to understand how you are planning to operate with regard to electronic applications and in particular our fee calculator.
Feel free to contact me personally if you’re nervous of an open response.
Time is running out so get your twopenneth in quick.
My hard-working colleagues in the technical team are preparing to roll out some important improvements to the Portal in the next week.
We’re currently testing the fixes and improvements on our test environment and plan to push them to the live site on Thursday 9 December.
You can read the list of fixes in this PDF (Release 5.01)
Please let me know if you have any questions about the release.
Planning Portal Blog 