Communities and Local Government

• Planning, building and the environment
• Planning applications July to September 1998

Planning, building and the environment

Planning applications July to September 1998

DETR Press Release Number: 1068

Release Date: 15 December 1998

DISTRICT PLANNING AUTHORITIES

 

Planning applications

In the third quarter of 1998, district planning authorities in England received 129 thousand applications for planning permission and other related consents, 1 per cent fewer than in the corresponding period in 1997 (Table 1).

The largest reductions in the number of applications received were in Yorkshire and the Humber (down 6 per cent) and in the East Midlands (down 4 per cent). The largest increases were in Merseyside (up 5 per cent) and the West Midlands (up 4 per cent) (Map 1).

 

Planning decisions

District planning authorities made 124 thousand planning decisions in the third quarter of 1998, the same number as in the corresponding period in 1997. The largest increases were in the South East and the West Midlands where the number of decisions rose by 5 per cent. The largest decreases were in the South West (down 9 per cent) and the North East (down 4 per cent) (Table 2, Map 2).

The number of decisions relating to householder developments in England was 5 per cent higher than a year earlier, while the number relating to new dwellings fell by 2 per cent (Table 3). These accounted for 43 per cent and 11 per cent of all decisions respectively.

Chart 1 shows the number of planning applications decided and the percentage decided within 8 weeks (both actual and seasonally adjusted), in each quarter since July to September 1988.

 

Applications granted

District planning authorities granted 88 per cent of the applications they decided in the third quarter of 1998, the same as in the corresponding period in 1997 (Table 1). There was little change in approval rates for each region (Table 2).

 

Speed of decision

In the third quarter of 1998, 62 per cent of all planning decisions were made within the statutory 8 week period, compared with 63 per cent in the third quarter of 1997 (Table 1). These figures are rounded and the difference between the unrounded figures is very small indeed; the percentage decided within 8 weeks is just under 62.5 per cent for July to September 1998 and just over 62.5 per cent for the corresponding quarter in 1997. The largest increases in the percentage of decisions made within 8 weeks were in Merseyside (up 4 percentage points) and the North East (up 2 percentage points). The largest decrease was in the West Midlands (down 2 percentage points) (Table 2). Authorities made 84 per cent of all decisions within 13 weeks.

 

Table 7 shows the number of applications decided, the percentage granted and speed of decision for each district planning authority in July to September 1998 and in the year ending September 1998. The results for speed of decision are illustrated graphically in Chart 2; this contains information for each of the authorities responding to the latest quarterly survey, ranked according to the percentage of decisions made within 8 weeks. There were 33 authorities (9 per cent of all those responding authorities) making 80 per cent or more of their decisions within the statutory 8 week period and 10 authorities making fewer than 40 per cent of decisions within 8 weeks.

 

Responding Authorities for July to September 1998

Of the 362 district planning authorities, 349 provided figures in time for this publication (that is, 96 per cent of all authorities). The figures reported above and in Tables 1 to 3 include estimates for non-responding authorities.

 

Applications decided under delegated powers

Since April 1997, district planning authorities have provided information about the number of applications decided by planning officers under a scheme of delegation and without referral to committee or councillors.

A column at Table 7 shows the percentage of such decisions. Of the 345 authorities that provided information about delegated decisions in the third quarter of 1998, only 3 per cent did not use delegated powers for any decisions.

 

Departure applications

From April 1997, district planning authorities have provided information about the number of applications decided which were advertised as departures from the development plan in force, and the number of departure applications which were granted.

A total of 346 authorities (96 per cent) were able to provide this information for the period July to September 1998. Of the planning decisions taken by these authorities, 987 (less than 1 per cent) were advertised as departures from the development plan. New dwellings accounted for 36 per cent of departure decisions. An average of 62 per cent of departure applications were granted, compared with 88 per cent of planning applications overall.

 

Enforcement action by district planning authorities

Table 4 shows statistics of formal enforcement action taken by responding authorities in each year since data collection began in 1992/93 and in more recent quarters. In July to September 1998, district planning authorities issued 1,187 Enforcement Notices and served 1,195 Planning Contravention Notices, 354 Breach of Condition Notices and 44 Stop Notices. The High Court or County Court granted 14 Enforcement Injunctions while none were refused.

 

Regulation 3 and 4 consents

Table 5 shows the number of Regulation 3 and 4 Consents granted in each quarter since 1993/94.

Under Regulation 3 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a local planning authority makes an application to itself for permission to develop land within its area, and determines that application. In the third quarter of 1998, 1,301 Regulation 3 consents were granted and 144 Regulation 4 consents were granted. Regulation 4 is concerned with planning permission for development of land in which the local planning authority has an interest but which it does not itself propose to carry out.

 

Applications for determination

In the third quarter of 1998, district planning authorities received 2,424 applications for determination whether local authority approval is required for certain works. This is around a third fewer than in the corresponding period in 1997 (Table 6). District planning authorities decided to intervene in 389 cases (16 per cent), an increase of almost 3 percentage points on the second quarter of 1998.

 

COUNTY MATTERS

'County matters' planning applications are predominantly concerned with minerals extraction and waste disposal developments. They are decided by the county-level planning authorities - that is, county councils, metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, London boroughs, urban development corporations (within metropolitan areas) and national park authorities. However, because of the nature of county matters applications, the large majority are handled by the county councils.

County planning authorities receive about two thousand 'county matters' applications each year. This compares with about 500 thousand planning applications received by district planning authorities. Quarterly figures for 'county matters' decisions are likely to be much more variable than those for districts because of the smaller numbers of such decisions.

 

 

Planning applications and decisions

In the third quarter of 1998, county planning authorities received 523 planning applications, 5 per cent fewer than the corresponding quarter of 1997. County councils accounted for 81 per cent of total applications and metropolitan districts for a further 9 per cent (Table 8). Derbyshire received the highest number of applications (44) in the quarter (Table 11).

County planning authorities made 399 planning decisions in the quarter, 17 per cent fewer than a year earlier. Of these, 90 per cent were granted, 1 percentage point lower than the corresponding period in 1997. Waste developments accounted for 63 per cent of total decisions and minerals developments for 32 per cent (Table 9). Surrey reported the highest number of decisions (29) in the quarter (Table 11).

 

Speed of decision

In the third quarter of 1998, 16 per cent of all decisions on 'county matters' applications were made within the statutory 8 week period, 1 percentage point higher than in the corresponding quarter of 1997. Decisions were made within 13 weeks by 36 per cent of authorities and within 17 weeks by 53 per cent (Table 10).

 

Enforcement action

County planning authorities have provided statistics on formal enforcement action taken each quarter since April 1995.

In the period July to September 1998, county planning authorities issued 37 Enforcement Notices and served 11 Stop Notices, 48 Planning Contravention Notices and 20 Breach of Condition Notices (Table 12).

 

Responding authorities for July to September 1998

Of the 157 county planning authorities, 149 (95 per cent) provided figures in time for this publication.

NOTES

District Planning Authorities

 

1. The term 'district planning authorities' describes the group of authorities with responsibility for deciding planning applications at 'district level': metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts, new unitary authorities (those created from April 1995 onwards), London boroughs, national park authorities and (prior to 1 April 1998) urban development corporations.

2. Statistics of planning applications received and decided by district planning authorities have been collected on a quarterly basis since April 1979, on the PS1 and PS2 General Development Control statistical returns. Prior to April 1986, these returns covered applications and decisions under Section 29 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 (since replaced by Section 70 of the consolidated Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which came into force in August 1990).

3. Since then, data collection has been extended to cover other types of application requiring permission from local authorities, including listed building consents, conservation area consents and consent to display advertisements. This reflects the wider range of planning casework handled by district planning authorities. From April 1997, data have also been collected on receipt of Environmental Statements with planning applications, on the use of delegated powers, and on applications which the authority decided to advertise as departures from the Development Plan.

4. District planning authorities are sent the quarterly information bulletin together with more detailed figures for individual authorities in their respective Government Office region. These provide a set of yardsticks against which authorities can judge their own figures.

 

'County matters'

 

5. County councils, unitary authorities (from 1 April 1995), metropolitan district councils, (including urban development corporations prior to April 1998), London borough councils and national park authorities are responsible for determining planning applications and types of development described as 'county matters'. These are predominantly concerned with minerals extraction and waste disposal developments, as set out in Schedule 1 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Town and Country Planning (Prescription of County Matters) Regulations 1980 (SI 1980/2010) and in Annex 7 of Planning Policy Guidance Note 23 'Planning and Pollution Control'.

6. Until March 1986 decisions made by county councils had been included in the returns (PS1/PS2) submitted by the district planning authorities. A review of these returns in 1985 recommended that information about county council applications should be collected separately and a quarterly collection of county council development control statistics relating to 'county matters, planning applications (the CPS1/2 Return) was introduced from the beginning of April 1989. From April 1992, data collection was extended to cover other types of authority (listed above) with responsibility for 'county matters' applications. From April 1995, the scope of the quarterly survey was widened to include collection of data on enforcement action taken by authorities relating to 'county matters' developments and from April 1997, data have also been collected on receipt of Environmental Statements with 'county matters' planning applications.

 

Data presentation

7. All figures included in the commentary have been calculated using unrounded data. As a result, there may be some apparent discrepancy with figures shown in the tables.

8. All statistics shown in Tables 1 to 6 and 8 to 12 are based on information provided to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions by 4 December 1998. Figures received from planning authorities after that date have been included only in Table 7 and only where this was possible within the publication schedule.

9. The reorganisation of local government in England has necessitated a change in the presentation of statistics for local authority areas. Figures for the new UAs are shown in Table 7 within the former county structure.

10. Where data are presented by 'type of authority' in Table 2, figures for unitary authorities are included in the category 'non-metropolitan districts'. In Tables 8 to 11 (relating to 'county matters'), figures are shown separately for the category 'unitary authorities'.

11. The primary classification for the presentation of regional statistics has changed from the Standard Statistical Regions (SSRs) to Government Office Regions (GORs) (Table 2 and Maps 1 and 2). A guide to the composition of Government Office Regions and their relationship to the Standard Statistical Regions is given at Annex A. Figures for the Standard Statistical Regions are available on request from the Planning and Land Use Statistics Division, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 3/K9, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU. Tel. 0171 - 890 5502 Fax. 0171 - 890 5519.

 

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