Architects and surveyors who are accredited under the Fast Track scheme can have their clients’ planning applications pushed through quickly to a planning officer for decision, so that the result comes through in five weeks rather than the usual 8 weeks. “It’s a brilliant scheme,” says local architect Elizabeth Steer. “When people have paid out for a design for an extension, they want to get on with it, not wait for months while their plans sit in a pile in the corner at the local council offices.”
Under the Fast Track scheme, accredited architects and surveyors agree to abide by a set of criteria designed to ensure that their applications are error free – this in turn allows the council to by-pass the usual verification process. The scheme has been produced under the guidance of the PARSOL (Planning and Regulatory Services Online) National Project that is supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and is also contributing to a wider programme for modernization of the planning system. The Fast Track scheme is likely to be adopted by many other local planning authorities after its successful launch and subsequent take-up in Surrey.
Planning online
“Our aim is to improve clarity and quality of information for our customers,” said Louise Norie, Business and Information Systems Manager at Waverley. “We are putting as many parts of the planning process as possible online to improve services to homeowners.”
This spring Louise and her team are launching another phase in the modernization programme, designed to help homeowners find out online whether they will need planning permission for their extension. The ‘Expert System’, designed by a consortium of local authorities within the PARSOL National Project , will take users through a series of questions to determine whether their extension is so minor that it does not need planning permission at all.
“The reality is that the vast majority of extensions do need planning permission but if homeowners can check online, it saves them a lot of time calling the local planning office and it saves us time too,” said Louise Norie. “The local authority are often the only ones who have all the information about previous planning history and whether the property is affected by planning constraints like an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”
“We normally receive around 1,000 queries a year from people telephoning us or calling in at the offices and this is very time-consuming. We can also save time and improve the quality of our service by supplying online a list of all the forms and advice they will need to send in a planning application.”
Advice on line
The Waverley Council website already features a wide-ranging set of practical advice for homeowners on the issues that they should address when thinking about building projects – everything from guidance on design and consulting the neighbours to appointing a builder..
“It’s very helpful for people to be able to check the progress of their planning application online and download all the forms they will need,” said Elizabeth Steer. “Waverley is very innovative and efficient.”
There are also plans to help small businesses in the local area by putting online details of commercial properties that are available to buy or rent.
Saving time and paperwork
While the homeowners in Waverley and their professional advisers are benefiting from the work of the PARSOL National Project, the initiatives are also saving lots of time and paperwork back at the council offices.
“We estimate that we have saved around 4.5 weeks work since we launched the Fast Track system last year,” said Julia Wood, leader of the Administrative Team for planning at Waverley.
“Applications and plans used to arrive with incomplete and inaccurate information – dormer windows not shown correctly, floor plans not matching the elevations. Now we offer online accreditation and can be sure that the plans we receive from our accredited agents don’t need checking. We can send them straight through to the Planning Officers, who then know that they are looking at correct drawings and maps on which to make a decision.”
In a county that is grappling with a 30% increase in planning applications over the last four years, there is an urgent need for online systems to help council staff meet the workload.
With all local councils in England aiming to meet efficiency targets under the recent Gershon recommendations, anything that saves time in the planning department has to be good news.
“Most planning departments in the south of England are snowed under because of the building boom,” explained Elizabeth Steer. “People are improving their houses with extensions rather than pay the costs now associated with moving house.”
“Like all parts of the UK, we have a shortage of trained planning officials, so the more time we can save through managing the application process efficiently, the better,” said Louise Norie.
Surprisingly, the widespread use of Computer Aided Design in the building industry has not led to an improvement in presentation of building plans for planning permission. Architects, surveyors and builders can vary dramatically in the standard of drawings they submit to their local council and it can take council officials many hours of painstaking checking and negotiation to get plans up to the required standard for planning consideration.
The Waverley Fast Track initiative is especially significant in the wider aim of improving planning efficiency because householder applications, for which it has proved so successful, make up the vast majority of planning applications – around 70% in the case of Waverley.
Householder applications – for kitchen or bathroom extensions, new porches or loft conversions – are generally decided, under ‘delegated powers’, by a Senior Planning Officer rather than a full Planning Committee. The Fast Track scheme assures a steady flow of accurate plans through to the Planning Officer and the time saved on each application handled in this way has a major impact on the council figures for swift turnaround on planning decisions.
Because the Fast Track scheme is successfully speeding up householder application, Waverley will be extending it to single dwelling applications as well in the near future.
This and other parts of the PARSOL National Project are being led and managed by Wandsworth Borough Council and are likely to be adopted nationally as local council planning departments see the benefits in customer service and efficiency.
The PARSOL National Project is supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and is making a substantial contribution to the realization of the e-Planning Blueprint that sets out a vision for a world-class planning system across all UK authorities.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 04.04.2005
