Planning, building and the environment

Steady performance on planning applications

Published	14 December 2007

Local planning authorities (LPAs) have maintained their improved levels of performance in handling planning applications, Planning Minister, Iain Wright announced today.

The latest statistics show that 313 (85 per cent) planning authorities met or surpassed the Government's target of deciding 60 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks; 340 (93 per cent) met the target of deciding 65 per cent of minor planning applications and 335 (91 per cent) met the target of deciding 80 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks.

The figures for the year ending September 2007 is similar to previous year's statistics when 317 (86 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding major applications, 337 (92 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding minor applications, and 337 (92 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding other applications.
There are also many individual success stories with 64 LPAs showing an improvement in performance a number of whom decided 100 per cent of major decisions within the 13 week target.

Iain Wright said:

"I am pleased to see that performance is remaining steady overall and that a significant number of authorities are continuing to improve their performance."

Also published today are the quarterly development control statistics for July to September 2007.

Notes to editors

1. The half-yearly Planning Performance Checklist of local authorities' handling of planning applications was published today. It shows at a glance how local planning authorities were reaching decisions on planning applications in the year ending September 2007. The Checklist shows performance against the three handling targets set from 1 April 2002 with the emphasis on the need for timely handling of major applications.

2. In the year ending September 2007, local planning authorities determined, on average, 71 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks, 77 per cent of minor planning applications and 88 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These represent no change in processing major and other applications, and a 1 percentage point increase for determining minor applications as compared with the previous Planning Performance Checklist published in June 2007, based on performance in the year ending March 2007.

3. In the year ending September 2007, 313 (85 per cent) planning authorities met or surpassed the Government's target of deciding 60 per cent of major planning applications within 13 weeks; 340 (93 per cent) met the target of deciding 65 per cent of minor planning applications within 8 weeks, and 335 (91 per cent) met the target of deciding 80 per cent of other planning applications within 8 weeks. These represent little change in performance from that in the year ending March 2007 when 317 (86 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding major applications, 337 (92 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding minor applications, and 337 (92 per cent) authorities met the target for deciding other applications.

4. 64 planning authorities are classified as "improving" performers and 10 planning authorities are classified as "declining" performers. The criteria for categorising "improving" and "declining " planning authorities are set out in paragraphs 7 and 8 below.

5. The targets for handling applications are as follows:

60 per cent of major residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 13 weeks;
65 per cent of minor residential, commercial and industrial applications to be determined within 8 weeks;
80 per cent of all other applications to be determined within 8 weeks.

Data on performance in the year ending September 2007 are presented in the following three tables are available at Planning applications July to September 2007 under the heading 'Annex B: Planning Performance Checklist (September 2007)':

Table 1 : Comparative performance of local planning authorities
Table 2 : Authorities whose performance is improving
Table 3 : Authorities whose performance is worsening

6. In Table 1 authorities are ranked according to their current performance against the Government's target for determining major planning applications. Performance on the minor and other applications targets are set alongside the ranked distribution on performance in determining major applications. Authorities who did not submit returns for all four quarters have not been ranked.

Planning decisions on major developments include those involving 10 or more new dwellings and office, industrial and retail developments involving 1,000 square metres of floorspace or where site areas are 1 hectare or over. Developments under these new dwellings and floorspace thresholds are categorised as minor developments. Planning decisions on other developments include householder, change of use, listed building and conservation consents and applications to display advertisements. Table 1 also shows, for comparative purposes, performance figures for each local planning authority in the twelve-month period reported in the previous Checklist.

7. Table 2 shows those authorities whose performance has improved significantly.

Criteria for inclusion are:

the average performance in deciding major planning applications within 13 weeks has increased in each of the two most recent year-ending periods, ie from the year ending March 2007 to the year ending June 2007 and from the year ending June 2007 to the year ending September 2007;
the overall increase in average performance in determining major applications between year ending March 2007 and year ending September 2007 is at least 5 percentage points; and
authorities have submitted all relevant quarterly returns for the period covered by the table.

8. Table 3 shows those authorities whose performance has declined significantly.

Criteria for inclusion are:

the average performance in deciding major planning applications within 13 weeks has decreased by at least 10 percentage points in either of the two most recent year-ending periods, ie from the year ending March 2007 to the year ending June 2007and from the year ending June 2007 to the year ending September 2007;
the overall decrease in average performance in determining major applications between year ending March 2007 and year ending September 2007 is at least 5 percentage points.
authorities whose performance is declining but is still above the 60 per cent target level have been excluded from the list.

9. The figures in Tables 1 to 3 exclude decisions on 'county matters' applications taken by metropolitan districts, unitary authorities, London boroughs and National Parks.

10. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) has for many years published details of local planning authorities' performance in deciding planning applications on both a quarterly and an annual basis. This is available online at Planning applications July to September 2007. This service will continue to be provided. The Checklist aims to highlight information from the GSS publications which is of particular interest to the general public.