Agenda item

To consider a report by the Development Manager and Planning Officer (copy attached), which provided information about effectiveness and performance of the planning compliance function.

11.15 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

The Lead Member for Housing, Regulation and the Environment introduced the report and appendices (previously circulated) which presented the Committee with an overview of the effectiveness and performance of the Council’s planning compliance function.  In his introduction he emphasised that the purpose of the planning regime was to regulate development and the use of land in the public interest.  It was therefore important for local planning authorities to have an effective compliance function that was equipped to timely investigate alleged breaches, and apply local and national planning policies to remedy the harmful effects of unauthorised developments.  In order for the compliance service to continually improve and perform well, despite local government funding cuts, working practices would need to be refined and collaboration with other stakeholders would need to be strengthened.

The Head of Planning and Public Protection and the Development Manager (Planning and Public Protection Service) outlined to the Committee the day to day work of the Compliance Service, its overall performance and an overview of how performance indicators were evolving nationally.  They highlighted the need going forward for a consistent approach to be adopted in conjunction with local stakeholders if effective proactive monitoring work which delivered significant improvements was to continue, as the Service had only one dedicated Planning Compliance Officer who investigated alleged breaches.  On average this officer investigated circa 240 complaints per annum.  Due to the lack of resources available to investigate alleged breaches cases had to be prioritised on a degree of harm basis, therefore alleged breaches which affected listed buildings, conservation areas, the county’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), protected trees as well as those that contravened the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities would generally be given precedence over other alleged breaches.  A temporary part-time Planning Compliance Project Officer had recently been appointed with a view to securing the delivery of the Rhyl Town Centre Masterplan through proactively addressing the extensive number of existing planning control breaches in the town.  It was anticipated that adopting this approach would boost efforts to regenerate the town centre and reduce deprivation levels in the area.  The Project Officer was keen, as part of the Business Improvement District (BID) programme, to work with local businesses in the town drawing to their attention their role in ensuring that all businesses conformed with planning requirements and engaged with the environmental improvement work to improve the town’s general appearance.

The Service worked closely with other Council services i.e. Licensing, Housing Services, Environmental Health Service and other public services e.g. Police, Fire and Rescue Service in relation to non-compliance matters, as investigations into one alleged breach often uncovered other non-compliance matters.  Therefore all services could support and complement each other’s efforts in relation to non-compliance and any associated remedial work.  Effective partnership working with all services and agencies and the adoption of a proactive rather than a reactive approach to compliance work had the potential to reap both financial and environmental benefits for the Council and for residents within current financial and human resource levels.  Another potential method for enhancing the proactive approach would be through the development of a charter between the County Council and the county’s city, town and community councils seeking their agreement to inform the County Council’s Planning Compliance Service of any potential planning control breaches or issues of concern within their communities as soon as they were brought to their attention.  If such a charter could be drawn-up and all councils agreed to its adoption it could potentially act as an ‘early warning system’ to the County Council’s Planning Compliance Service enabling it to proactively engage with the individuals/businesses/organisations who were at risk of breaching planning conditions at a very early  stage with a view to remedying any breaches and avoiding them escalating into costly non-compliance matters and a protracted enforcement process.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member for Housing, Regulation and the Environment, Corporate Director:  Economic and Community Ambition, Head of Planning and Public Protection, Development Manager (Planning and Public Protection) and the Planning Compliance Officer:

·         advised that the number of alleged planning control breaches were not increasing significantly.  However, if the cases required detailed investigation or related to complex breaches they would take some considerable time to resolve and with limited resources this meant that other cases were not being investigated.  Hence, the reason why a proactive approach and seeking cross-service co-operation and information sharing would be more effective as it could enable the Planning Compliance Service to engage with those at risk of breaching conditions at an earlier stage and recommend any remedial actions necessary.  This ‘soft’ approach to enforcement was generally better for all parties;

·         confirmed that the Planning Compliance Service worked closely with the Council’s Building Control Service.  Both services were co-located, regularly shared information, and relied heavily on each other’s knowledge;

·         advised that officers were currently reviewing the fees relating to planning advice and applications as Service operating costs exceeded any income received from fees and charges.  This loss in income was generally due to the reduction in planning applications in recent years;

·         confirmed that the performance data contained in Appendix 2 to the report was the latest comparative data published by the Welsh Government(WG);

·         advised that more proactive intervention work was required in certain areas of the county than in others.  This was particularly true in areas of high deprivation, where local residents’ aspirations and perceptions of their local environment tended to be lower than in other more affluent areas.  Hence the decision to focus on Rhyl Town Centre with a view to boost the regeneration work in the area by targeting important historic buildings to avoid them being lost forever.  In the county’s more affluent towns and villages residents were far more likely to raise concerns relating to unsightly buildings to the Council’s attention at an early stage, before they deteriorated further, as the example in Appendix 1 to the report illustrated;

·         confirmed that current Performance Indicators (PIs) relating to the number of enforcement notices issued and complied with were at present geared towards recording the number of investigations concluded with a formal resolution.  However, this was about to change as a recent open letter from WG to Chief Planning Officers had indicated that “formal enforcement action” should no longer be viewed as a last resort and the resolution of breaches would no longer be fully monitored.  Local Planning Authorities would from now on be permitted to determine when an investigation had been completed and a resolution reached, which could be at any stage when a ‘positive’ result had been achieved;

·         advised that whilst employing additional staff to undertake Planning Compliance work would be advantageous in an ideal world, current public services budgetary constraints meant that this was not a viable option unless another Service was cut or withdrawn to fund the cost of additional staff;

·         advised that it would in future be advisable for the Service to request that allegations of breach of planning conditions should be substantiated by evidence e.g. photographs etc. prior to an investigation being instigated as this should help expedite the investigatory work;

·         outlined the extent of a potential Planning Compliance Charter which could be drawn-up between the County Council and local city, town and community councils.  The Charter could potentially cover giving the councils powers to undertake initial investigations into alleged breaches of Planning matters, training and educating officials to undertake this work etc.;  

·         confirmed that the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and other ancillary legislation conferred powers and duties on local authorities in relation to planning compliance work;

·         the Planning Compliance function’s role in supporting the Council’s work to deliver its Corporate Plan related in particular to the housing, environment and resilient communities corporate priorities; and

·         advised that amending the Scheme of Delegation to permit officers to issue formal non-compliance notices without having to seek Planning Committee’s permission first had proved effective.  Whilst the serving of a breach notice in itself did not necessarily solve the matter immediately it did instigate a dialogue with the property owner/manager which could potentially result in a satisfactory resolution in due course.

Committee members agreed that amending the Scheme of Delegation had helped streamline the process and expedite resolutions to non-compliance matters.  However, they felt that local members were no longer informed on progress in relation to non-compliance matters within their wards.  With a view to keeping members informed of progress with non-compliance matters the Development Manager agreed to provide councillors with a six-monthly update progress report in relation to them.   

Councillors representing Rhyl commended the work being undertaken by the Planning Compliance Service in relation to non-compliance matters in Rhyl town centre, and supported the proposed future approach to be instigated there in a bid to accelerate the town’s regeneration.

At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion it was:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations

(i)           to receive the report on the performance and effectiveness of the Planning Compliance function;

(ii)          to acknowledge the value and importance of the Service to the county and its residents and recommend that every effort be made to protect the function when setting future Council budgets;

(iii)         that a Planning Compliance Charter be drawn up between Denbighshire County Council and its city, town and community councils for the purpose of supporting compliance work through early prevention and intervention work; and

(iv)        that the draft Charter be presented to the Committee for consultation prior to being issued to city, town and community councils for consultation