CITY officials have defended the performance of Worcester’s planning department after claims by its chairman that it wasn’t far from having its powers taken away.

Councillor Chris Mitchell, the chairman of Worcester City Council’s planning department said if the recent drop in performance continues by the Guildhall’s planning officers, it could see the department put into ‘special measures.

This would mean that officials from central government could have the final say on major Worcester planning applications, taking control away from the city.

With the city council’s planning committee regularly making big decisions on controversial plans, such as the recent John Lewis and Worcester City Football Club applications, it would be a major blow for local democracy.

But the city council itself said that its performance is a long way away from needing special measures.

Cllr Mitchell told councillors at the Guildhall on Tuesday that the department is “a few bad quarters from going into special measures” and Cllr Lucy Hodgson added “this authority is at serious risk of being put into designation (having power moved to central government).”

The statements were made in a debate on whether to cancel a proposed saving of £55,000 from the planning department in the city council’s budget for next year.

Councillors voted by seven to six to remove the proposed saving.

Planning departments can be ‘designated’ for special measures known as ‘discharge’, where major planning applications will be made direct to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, (DHCLG) currently Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, if applications aren’t dealt with quickly enough, or if too many are overturned.

The criteria put forward in 2016 for the last year says an authority might be ‘designated’ if fewer than 60 per cent of major applications are dealt with within 13 weeks, and fewer than 70 per cent of non-major applications within eight weeks.

Designation could also occur if more than 10 per cent of decisions are overturned on appeal.

It was only in 2016 that the Worcester News reported that the council’s planners’ performance was exceeding government targets, with 96 per cent on minor applications being dealt with within eight weeks.

Cllr Mitchell says that staff have been lost and not replaced.

“Over the last seven quarters, performance on minor applications has gone from over 97 per cent dealt with in time to 44 per cent in the last quarter,” he told the Worcester News.

“We’ll be measured again next September and if the average for the previous eight quarters is under 70 per cent, we could be designated for discharge.

“There just aren’t enough people in the department – they work hard, and the council is trying to fill the gaps, but it just can’t attract the people.

“The effect is really felt by people who want to make an application, especially small ones, so someone who wants an extension or something might be waiting 10 or 12 or 14 weeks, not the seven or eight they should be.”

But while the council admits its performance has dropped, it says its average is still well above the threshold for designation, for the last two years.

A spokesman said: “For Worcester, based on an average of the last two years’ performance, 94.7 per cent of major planning applications were determined within the statutory or agreed timescales, which exceeds the target of 60 per cent. For minor planning applications, again based on an average of the last two years performance, 78 per cent were determined within the statutory or agreed timescales, which again exceeds the target.

“Therefore, based on these figures, it is unlikely that DHCLG will be looking to designate Worcester City Council as an area that is under-performing.”

The council added: “Due to significant staff shortages, the city council recognises that the speed of decision-making has slowed down. There is a shortage of qualified planning officers nationally. We are currently looking at ways of attracting planning officers to vacant roles in the team and will undertake a further round of recruitment. In the meantime, as an interim measure, we are in the process of appointing temporary staff via an agency.”

At least one Worcester company thinks the council’s planners do a decent job, although they don’t always keep to the government’s timescales.

Dan Stiff, director of BB Architecture and Planning in Worcester said: “We get far more done with Worcester City Council than other neighbouring authorities. It doesn’t always happen within the required period ¬– we’ve had lots of applications run over – but we’ve always come to a satisfactory result. It’s a small authority and a small planning department, but I think they give a good service.”

In 2014 Bromsgrove District Council, in Mr Javid’s constituency, was threatened with designation for falling behind the required deadlines.

A spokesman for DHCLG said the council “is not subject to intervention from the ministry on any planning performance matter.”

JOHN LEWIS SAGA

The saga of the John Lewis Worcester Woods development shows just how long planning issues can drag on.

While the Worcester News revealed the intention to build a huge £150million shopping development off Newtown Road on the eastern edge of the city in autumn 2014, developer Land Securities did not submit its application until January 2015.

In April 2015 the city council’s planning committee had to agree to move a bridleway to allow the development to go further.

With objections to the plans coming in from all quarters, including city centre traders and other nearby councils, the developer made a change to its plans in February 2016

In April 2016, the delay in deciding the matter was said to be deterring investors from putting their money into Worcester city centre and residents and shoppers pleaded with the council to make a decision.

The city council’s planning committee finally voted against the scheme in June 2016.

When Land Securities announced in January 2017 that it would not take the matter to appeal, the whole story was finally put to bed – two years to the month from the initial application.