Understanding and avoiding designation

Currently only one council in the country, Uttlesford, is formally designated under S62 of the Town and Country Planning Act.  However, 17 councils are currently waiting with bated breathe to find out whether they will be designated and a decision is due shortly.  Every one of these councils has a team of excellent, highly professional and dedicated officers.  They also have passionate, dedicated, committed councillors who are trying to do the best for their local residents. So why are they in this position?

How are councils designated?

Councils can be designated through speed or quality of decision making.  Councils have to determine 70% of non Majors or 60% of Majors or County Matters in time (i.e. within statutory time limits or as agreed through an extension of time) or not exceed 10% of Major of non Major decisions being overturned at appeal.  Both quality and speed are assessed over a rolling two year period.

What does it mean to be designated?

Very simply it means that an applicant has the choice of applying directly to the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) to determine any application that falls under the application type that has caused the council to be designated (i.e. Majors or non Majors)

So what?

Councils have said to me they don’t care if they are designated.  They are overworked and understaffed so if the Government wants to take some applications off their hands that’s great isn’t it?  Unfortunately it is not that simple – just ask Uttlesford!  The council has to register, consult and consider the application.  Officers then need to form a view on the application and, where necessary, seek its Planning Committee’s views. They then provide this view on the application to PINS.  However, and significantly, the council is only a consultee rather than the decision maker – imagine how councillors react to that.  Also, the fee goes to PINS who assigns a case officer and determines the application.  So, in summary the council still does a lot of work, but loses the power of decision making and doesn’t get a penny to resource the work.  On top of this, designation will result in negative press coverage and it is unlikely to help a council compete in an ever challenging job market.

How can you save yourselves?

The good news is that DLUHC provides the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) with a grant every year to help councils who are either in designation or threatened with designation.  We have our “crystal ball” that we use to spot councils likely to fall into the danger area and we will contact you and provide you with support free of charge.  It is relatively easy to spot a council in trouble when it comes to speed of decision making, but much more difficult for quality – see Martin’s excellent blog on quality to explain why.

Also, the Government has always to date given councils the opportunity to identify “exceptional circumstances” that the Minister will consider before designating a council.  Most councils have avoided designation through their ability to persuade the Minister that they have genuinely exceptional circumstances that have been taken into consideration.

Our top tips

Every council suffers from financial constraints and a national shortage of skilled planners.  Many councils struggle with their 5 year housing supply and ability to adopt a Local Plan.  Some councils have had to suspend decision making due to nutrient issues. Many councils have had recent political changes and some have political leaders who have been voted in on their ability to resist rather than promote development.  Yet at the last count over a two year period 123 councils have determined 90% or more of their non Majors in time, 151 councils have determined 90% or more of their Majors in time and 137 councils have had no Major decisions overturned at appeal.  So how do they do it?  Here are a few of the most easy to solve tips that I’ve picked up after having spoken to many councils on performance matters.  These are just the easy ones and PAS will work with you on other, more difficult to solve reasons for poor performance.

Tip 1 – Don’t be afraid to ask for help – and do it as early as possible

PAS doesn’t have all the answers by any means, but we have been working with councils for many years and have an extensive library of what works for others at our fingertips.  We also understand as we have worked at the coal face of Development Management. We will try and seek you out, but don’t be afraid to give us a call and we will be able to help you best if you contact us as soon as you know you have a problem. Also, DLUHC will be looking to see how councils have engaged with PAS as part of their final assessment on designation so why not take up our support?  It will only help your cause.

Tip 2 – Be aware of your performance

This sounds so obvious, but it is amazing how many councils simply don’t know their own performance.  So far the Government has only been interested in councils who don’t meet the minimum performance thresholds.  If you determine 70% of non Majors in time you don’t get contacted.  If you determine 69.9% of non Majors in time you might get contacted.  Therefore, keep monitoring performance and if you are getting close to the line do something about it before it is too late.

Tip 3 – Make it everybody’s problem

Too often we find that the managers – usually Head of Planning and / or Head of Development Management – keep the impending crisis from the rest of the staff and councillors.  This is normally for the best of intentions, but performance only improves when everyone helps.  The technical team will put in the extra work if they know that fast registration really helps; case officers will avoid determining an application a day over time if they think it really matters; and councillors will think twice about overturning an officer recommendation or deferring an item if they really understand the potential consequences.

Tip 4 – Sometimes the easiest corrections can make all the difference

Here are some examples of simple own goals.  One council found that case officers didn’t know how to log an extension of time on the software system so applications were being logged out of time when they were in fact in time.  Another had a backlog of applications waiting for manager sign off because of software issues so target dates were being missed by a day or two on a regular basis. Another council allowed every officer to use their own project management tools to monitor progress on an application so there was no central database to monitor overall performance.  All these examples were simple to fix when the problem was pointed out to them.

Tip 5 – Listen to your staff

Time is so often wasted when different officers do things their own way or do something because it has always been done that way.  You can get consultants in to help you redesign your ways of working and sometimes this is needed.  However, in our experience staff have some of the best ideas themselves to speed up performance if only you give them the confidence to speak out.  Capture the innovative ideas from your staff, agree a single way of working that everyone can own and then make sure you all follow that way of working until you agree something better.

Tip 6 – Get the easy applications out as soon as you can

Believe it or not some applications are straightforward. No one objects, it complies with policy and there is no councillor interest. When you get these wonderful applications determine them as soon as you have met the statutory notification requirements. It will take the same amount of time as if you wait for the end of the 8 week deadline. However, making a quick decision will make you look super efficient, will help keep caseloads manageable and will stop anyone coming up with a reason to delay the application any further – “sorry I’ve already determined that one”

These are the “get your started” tips.  PAS has loads of self help on its website and I recommend you work through the PAS DM Challenge Toolkit to MoT your Development Management service.  There are loads more “top tips” to help you decide what might work best for you. Also don’t be afraid to drop us an email and have a chat. We really don’t mind you contacting us and we can be very discrete if you want to speak “off the record” or simply want to let off steam.