Friday
26
April
Powys hits back after Planning criticism
03/05/2011 @ 01:33
Following criticism from Conservative councillors that it had the “wrong attitude” towards planning applications from the private sector, Powys County Council has hit back.Board Member for Regeneration & Development, Councillor Wynne Jones has issued the following statement.
“I welcome the report into the Development Management Service in Powys and the acknowledgement that the service should be congratulated on regularly achieving its performance standards.
“Most of the issues identified were in fact already being tackled by the service and the report reinforces the actions taken by the service to secure and sustain the continued long term improvement.
“We all feel that economic factors should be given more weight in planning applications, but the fact is issues such as ecology, biodiversity, environmental and disability provisions, all backed up with statutory legislation, have pushed economic benefit well down the list of priorities.
“This is not only a problem for Powys but for all Local Authorities in Wales, as was recognised in work carried out on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government and resulted in the Assembly commissioning consultants to try and devise a formula that could be used to promote economic benefit in the determination of planning applications.
“We have supported this initiative, have positively contributed to that work and hope that it will soon result in us once again being able to make economic benefit, a major consideration in the determination of all planning applications.
“Comments about underperformance do not accurately reflect the content of the report and are quite unhelpful. There has been steady improvement over the last few years, as is demonstrated by current performance against service targets and this is strongly supported by a customer satisfaction survey for 2010/11 that showed an overall applicant satisfaction rate of 85% - considerably higher than previous years, “ he added.
“Most of the issues identified were in fact already being tackled by the service and the report reinforces the actions taken by the service to secure and sustain the continued long term improvement.
“We all feel that economic factors should be given more weight in planning applications, but the fact is issues such as ecology, biodiversity, environmental and disability provisions, all backed up with statutory legislation, have pushed economic benefit well down the list of priorities.
“This is not only a problem for Powys but for all Local Authorities in Wales, as was recognised in work carried out on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government and resulted in the Assembly commissioning consultants to try and devise a formula that could be used to promote economic benefit in the determination of planning applications.
“We have supported this initiative, have positively contributed to that work and hope that it will soon result in us once again being able to make economic benefit, a major consideration in the determination of all planning applications.
“Comments about underperformance do not accurately reflect the content of the report and are quite unhelpful. There has been steady improvement over the last few years, as is demonstrated by current performance against service targets and this is strongly supported by a customer satisfaction survey for 2010/11 that showed an overall applicant satisfaction rate of 85% - considerably higher than previous years, “ he added.
Last week, Conservative County Councillors launched an attack on the council planning policy and called for an immediate shake up.
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