Development Management – Planning Analysis

This development management analysis includes consideration of turnaround times for processing planning applications.  These traditional performance measures, long collected by the Government to measure success in the planning system, are lagging indicators; they measure what has already happened in the system and are not necessarily an indicator of a good experience for the customer.  

Turnaround time from the date of a valid application being received to a decision may only be 5 or 6 weeks, but from the customers perspective the clock starts when they hand in their application to the council, or their agent whether it is a valid application or not.  

Planning will always be a contentious subject as the outcomes can affect so many individuals and organisations, a ‘good’ decision could differ for the applicant, neighbour, parish council or community as a whole and a range of factors should be considered by an authority to determine the successful performance of their planning department.

We would be interested to hear from authorities that are using alternative indicators to manage their performance or who would like to share their improvement stories with the rural planning community.

Our latest analysis focuses on the following indicators:

• Turnaround time for Major Planning Applications
• Turnaround time for Minor Planning Applications
• Turnaround Time for Other Planning Applications
  
  

RSN Development - Quarterly Analysis