Improvements proposed to planning service

11.22.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 31st Jul 2007

Councillor Richard Church

A strengthened planning service to ensure that Northampton can meet the demands of a growing town is being proposed by the Liberal Democrat run Northampton Borough Council.

There will be a new structure for the planning department and the recruitment of a qualified head of planning. The department needs to play a major role in the coming years in matters such as the regeneration of Northampton town centre, increasing the supply of affordable housing, and reducing the town's carbon footprint. To do this the council needs to tackle the issue of under investment in the planning service over recent years and act to retain and attract professional staff.

Cllr Richard Church, Liberal Democrat cabinet member for regeneration, says: "Improvements have been made to the planning service since the publication of the inspection report in September 2006. There's been a real focus on performance and in the last six months our performance on the speed of determining local planning applications within the government's target has been amongst the best in the country."

"But there's more to be done to improve the service and one of the options is to appoint a planner at corporate manager level within the council. This person would provide leadership of the planning service, and actively promote the significant contribution that the planning service will make to the achievement of the council's vision and the vision of Northampton."

The Cabinet has recognised the contribution of existing planning staff to making improvements to the service. In the past week the government has proposed that Northampton Borough Council receives close to £600,000 to support the delivery of planning services and the growth agenda.

Richard Church says: "This is in the top five proposed allocations in the country and is recognition that we have met all of the targets for performance indicators, sustainable development indicators and plan-making requirements."

The Department for Communities and Local Government provisional Planning Delivery Grant for 2007-08 states: Northampton Borough Council will receive a provisional allocation of £592,620. This includes: £49,848 for plan making and sustainable development indicators. This is inclusive of £10,000 for joint working on plan making. Of the total, £98,922 is for development control. This is includes a bonus of £50,000 for meeting all three development control Best Value 109 indicators. A sum of £440,851 is for high housing demand. This includes £130,615 for being in a growth area or growth point. Finally, a sum of £2,999 is included for e-planning.