Agenda item

J Doe introduced the report and told the committee that there were no performance indicators showing as reds to report, but workloads remain high. Also, performance is improving with regards to planning applications. Applications that have been refused and then subject to an appeal has risen and this trend needs to be monitored. The success rates at defending appeals in Dacorum is good. There has been improved performance within the land charges service which is above target with the average turn around, running at 8.2 days compared to the target of 10 days.

The number of new homes completed is monitored closely because there are Core Strategy targets to meet. The target is 430 houses a year and only 47 new homes had been completed in quarter 2. This is not something the Council can directly control because aside from the council house new builds programme, Dacorum Borough Council is not a developer but often a facilitator. This might be something the committee ought to keep under scrutiny because delivery rates are quite low. With regards to the risk register, J Doe has carried out a fundamental review of risks and there will be new risks to report on in quarter 3.

Councillor Ashbourn referred to paragraph 6 of the report regarding the rise in appeals. Are we able to determine the proportion of private applications versus developers?

J Doe said he did not have these figures but typically, when the economy is performing well, the larger developers will challenge more if they believe there is chance of getting planning permission on appeal.

Councillor Birnie suggested that the rise in the planning application appeals could be affected by publicity from the government and people presuming that their planning application will be approved. Also, there have been a large number of contentious planning applications in front of the Development Control Committee.

J Doe said that the department does not get a huge number of appeals and looking at the data for quarter 2, there were 34 planning refusals and only 13 of these resulted in an appeal. On page 45 of the agenda, there is a target number for refusals. Applicants are encouraged to get it right first time because if they resubmit a plan within six months, they do not have to pay another fee.

Councillor Matthews referred to page 46 with regards to enforcement cases. He asked why there was a large number of enforcement cases?

J Doe said that the priority 3 cases are the less pressing ones whereas priority 1 cases are usually listed buildings and preserved trees at risk of felling. Mainly, the point is that there is a lot more activity at the moment. The workload has increased generally and with that there is more building and people contacting the Council more often to check whether new developments have received the appropriate permission and are proceeding with no problems. A lot of the cases relate to neighbour enquiries regarding the building of domestic extensions and questioning if they have planning permission or not. The first thing the department does is to establish whether the works have planning permission and largely they do. Officers do go out on site to check they are compliant with the approved plans.

Councillor Hicks said that only 47 new homes are completed and the target is 430, do you know how many new home planning applications were granted?

J Doe explained that close records are kept of planning applications granted and these figures are available on the Council’s website.

Councillor Hicks said that it might be possible that some developers may have planning permission but are waiting for prices to increase again before they start building.

Councillor Anderson said that information is usually contained in the Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) which is a very usual source of information in relation to planning.

J Doe said the most recent report will go to Cabinet in December.

Councillor Marshall stated that the weekly list of planning applications on the website is invaluable and asked whether it would be possible to add the appeals submitted?

J Doe said this can be added to the weekly list. Appeals are currently reported through the Development Control Committee.

Outcome

The Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report.