Agenda item

Report to follow

S Whelan introduced the report to members and said the report sets out the efficiencies to date in the department. A lot of the changes implemented have been made internally using IT more proactively and reducing the reliance on paper and increase the use of mobile devices. One big change for the next two years is managing appeals better and reducing the length of delegated reports.
One other change is helping Town and Parish Councils to become paperless and the councils have embraced the change and the implementation date is 13^th March 2017. Each council will receive an investment of £750 from Dacorum Borough Council to help with purchasing of hardware or software. This will fit in with Dacorum’s way of working.
Enforcement officers have been able to deal with cases without regularly having to take them to the Development Control Committee. 
Large scale developments now have planning performance agreements which allows the department to effectively project manage and it also increases income. This is particularly important as the Site Allocations has some very big sites and soon developers will start to come forward.
The tender process has started for the back office system that officers use. This will be a full tender process and it should take a year from developing the specification to the migration of data. It is also important that the new system works well with Dacorum’s website.
There are some statutory changes to come from government about the need to agree precommencement conditions 10 days prior to an official decision notice and therefore this reduces the eight week window in which to complete a planning application.
There is also new legislation surrounding planning performance as councils will now be monitored on appeals. Currently, Dacorum perform well with regards to appeals but this must continue to be monitored as if it drops below a certain percentage, the council will be put under a monitoring body.
The upcoming housing white paper is expected to increase planning fees, protect green belt and encourage councils to maximise transport hubs for development so this will increase pressure on Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring train stations.

Questions and answers

Councillor Hicks asked if the £750 offered to Town and Parish Councils was a one-off investment and any future equipment would need to be funded by the Parish Council?
S Whelan said yes, it is just a one-off investment to help them purchase equipment needed to go digital.
Councillor Hicks said his parish council has an information office to display paper plans and the council chamber to debate plans so the £750 could cover facilities needed to display plans.
S Whelan said different councils had different needs. Laptop equipment could be beneficial to display plans more easily.
Councillor Hicks asked if the IT department at DBC would be coordinating this.
S Whelan said Sharon Collins is the main point of contact as the Town and Parish Council officer but all the departments will work together. There was a tender for this and out of three systems, IT have picked the best system to use.
Councillor Hicks said he didn’t feel the £750 was enough.
S Whelan said there is not a statutory obligation for parish councils to provide access to plans.
Councillor Hicks was concerned that elderly residents were at risk of not being able to access plans.
Councillor Anderson felt that this change was long overdue and necessary. He said that 95% of planning applications were not controversial and saves money by printing less. The committee agendas have now been provided via tablets and saves printing on hundreds of pages of paper that would simply be thrown away at the end of the meeting. Councillor Anderson said he understands the frustrations but believes parish councils will find a way around it by printing the few applications that are controversial.
Councillor S Hearn said that his parish council would be printing their own copies of plans for the public.
Councillor Anderson said it has worked well at Kings Langley Parish Council and have got a projector to display plans.
Councillor Hicks felt this was discriminating against older people that do not have internet access.

Councillor Marshall said that the weekly list of applications sent to members is brilliant but wondered if it could include the appeals.
S Whelan said there must be a way of including it as the appeals are reported every three weeks to the Development Control Committee. It is important to escalate the awareness of appeals. There are 40 appeals each year out of about 3,000 planning applications. It might be the case that appeals are sent out monthly.
Councillor Anderson said appeals used to be first on the agenda at Development Control. Would it also be possible to identify the wards on the weekly list date?
S Whelan said that was something to look at when the system is out for tender.
Councillor Marshall said the problem of sending appeals out monthly, it would make it awkward for someone wishing to make a representation.
S Whelan said there have been delays of 6-9 months with the planning inspector for a couple of years. S Whelan said she would look at what reports can be run easily by officers for weekly distribution.
Councillor Riddick said the volume of appeals is low and ¾ of those that go to committee are generally repeated. A separate document for appeals would be useful if it is achievable.

Outcome

That the Strategic Planning and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the report.