Just a quick note to share with you yet another Portal milestone – individual subscriptions to the e-Newsletter have now reached 60,000.
Yesterday’s newsletter was sent to 60,007 subscribers – only seven months after surpassing the big 50,000 target.
Some of the top stories you’ve viewed this year have included February’s High Court judgment that gave a new slant on the tree definition! You were also keen to view the Government’s response to the Killian Pretty Review – which the Portal has been heavily involved in implementing.
Not keen to rest on our laurels, we’re still assessing your responses to the survey we sent out in July and will, through further research, be exploring how we can improve the overall news package in the New Year.
In the meantime, don’t be afraid to let us know what you think about the content and what you’d like to see in the future. Due to the Christmas break, the newsletter will resume service on the 7 January 2010.
If you don’t already subscribe to the newsletter register now. It’ll will only take a moment and will make you the most informed person in your office.
Chris
Following our recent Infrastructure changes and as part of continual improvement of the website, we aim to ensure that the software tools we use are the latest supported versions.
Consequently we recently upgraded our Adobe software and are now using version 8.
As this software is used for the standard planning application form and application service, some Local Planning Authorities who are using older version of Adobe Acrobat Reader may now get an Adobe warning message when opening the application forms.
The upgrade to version 8 is free; however, you will need to discuss this with your IT department to install the software on your network.
If you are not in a position to upgrade to version 8 or later, please accept the warning message that is displayed and you will be able to proceed using your current version. Upgrading your network to version 8 will prevent the warning message being displayed.
If you have any queries regarding this message, please do not hesitate to contact Portal Support on e: support@planningportal.gsi.gov.uk or 0117 372 8200.
Between the 25th of Jan and 18th of Feb there will be more than 20 events aimed at getting paper planners online. Submitting applications online saves agents a stack of money and time and it’s kind to the environment too.
I know most of you are already bought in, however if you know someone who is still submitting on paper please pull their head out of the snow and point them in the direction of one of our events. Think of yourself as a missionary for the digital age and consider it your first good deed for the new year.
We are also pulling together our testimonials for our business planning for next year, so if you have any feedback that might help I’d be especially grateful. I’m particularly interested in quantifiable savings in time or money.
An update from Adam Telford – the Portal’s head of marketing and communications.
In June Chris Kendall wrote about the Accredited Agents Scheme pilots the Portal would be running as part of our Killian Pretty work.
The idea of the scheme was to accredit those individuals who consistently submit planning applications in a way that helps LPAs process them.
Well, we have run two pilots from September to December.
The Southern pilot included:
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Bristol
- North Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
The Northern pilot included:
- Barnsley
- Bradford
- East Riding
- Kirklees
- Leeds
- Selby
Where the schemes have been used they appear to have added clarity for everyone involved, but they have not seen as much take-up as we would like. Read more…
Things are pretty hectic at the moment – even more than usual – so I thought it might be time for a general update.
Online planning applications are bobbling along at about 35 per cent (of all applications) which is OK, but not where we want it to be. As a result, we are about to launch into overdrive with events and activities aimed at agents and applicants running throughout January, February and March. Our aim is to get as close to 50 per cent as possible by the end of March.
On the technical front, work continues apace on the redesign, with ourselves, IBM and our usability and design partners all focused on delivering a site that will be uniquely useful and efficient. An early quick win of the new infrastructure is that we have been able to offer the IPC a website on the same platform – saving them a great deal of money and time.
As mentioned previously, we are now working with the Cabinet Office on a version of the Portal for DirectGov and our plans to offer local LPA versions of the Portal are gathering momentum (I’d be delighted to hear from any LPA who likes the idea of their own version of the site, wrapped in their own local authority branding).
Right now I’m working up the business plans for next year and beyond and it’s already clear money will be tighter than in previous years. No surprise there!
Unlike many of our colleagues, we are at least in the position to generate revenue. So we are assessing our options – projecting and planning like mad – and intend to start the new (financial) year with a commercial focus previously only hinted at. Watch this space! Read more…
Here’s an update on e-Consultation in response to a question from a reader.
Take-up of the e-Consultation Hub is continuing to gain momentum, although somewhat slower than hoped in a difficult economic climate. However, both English Heritage and the Environment Agency have committed their organisations to it as their preferred method of consultation and many other consultees are following suit.
Currently, 44 LPAs are using the hub for electronic consultations and the first connector to an LPA back-office system has been developed by Ocella and was successfully implemented by South Oxfordshire District Council at the end of September. Other connectors are in development and will follow in the next couple of months.
In the meantime, CLG remains committed to the hub as a standardised solution which will bring financial, environmental and business process benefits nationally.
We may not know who will be sitting where in Parliament and we may not know who will be King or Queen of the jungle, but there’s one thing we can be sure of – next year will be tough.
I’m fairly sure most of you will agree that there will be a lot to achieve and less money to do it with. I’m equally sure that we will not be immune.
Fortunately, through incredibly insightful management, we’ve already reduced our I.T costs and become greener with it. However, if we are to continue delivering to the level we’ve become accustomed, we expect we’ll need to top up the kitty.
At the moment, we raise funds in two ways: firstly, by delivering services for other bits of Government – good work but not a lot of profit in it! Secondly, we sell site location maps to planning applicants. This provides useful revenue either directly or by commissions from other suppliers with every penny going back into service development, however, we’d like more.
We have some ideas, but before sharing them with the world, I thought I’d ask you dear readers for your views.
The question is a simple one: what do you think the Portal could and should do to generate revenue?
If we get some good ideas, I’ll pop them in a poll and let you vote on them.
Over to you.
Chris
You may be aware that most Government websites are required to shift citizen-facing content to Directgov by March 2011. The idea being to make it easier for citizens to find Government content and to reduce the mountain of .Gov websites cluttering up the web.
Up ’til now we’ve struggled to understand how we might meet this obligation while retaining our ability to continue to drive reform of the planning system. This has caused no little tension.
That was then… Read more…
The latest in our ongoing series of mini-guides has just been added to the site.
This guide illustrates the basics of permitted development for extensions and complements the guides for porches and loft conversions as well as the Interactive House and Terrace.
The common approach for all of these guides is to attempt to present permitted development to the lay-person in a simple yet effective manner.
We are delighted when LPAs and others choose to link to the guides and we update them as legislation changes.
We’d be delighted to hear how we might improve any of these guides or receive feedback of any kind.
Planning Portal Blog 