Working with a Standards Authority for Planning
Objective
As a consequence of not meeting the required standard, for determining Major applications in the 12 month period up to June 2006, the Council had been declared a ‘Standards Authority’. As part of the Council-wide service improvement strategy to enhance the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ the Planning Service had prepared a Draft Planning Improvement Plan.
Engagement
Spirals was already known to the Council and was asked to review the Draft Planning Improvement Plan prepared by the internal team. The review identified that the full improvement plan contained in the order of 70 tasks to deliver a range of improvements across the whole Planning Service.
Spirals recommended that with the current workload and the high number of vacant posts the Council needed to take a more pragmatic approach in the short term. Efforts should be focused on the priority actions, in Development Control, required to meet the standards for determining Major applications prior to the next CPA inspection planned for May 2008. The review made it clear that it is imperative the Council meets the national performance standards as soon as possible as there is an anticipated increase in major development schemes likely over the next three to five years. The city had also been given ‘Growth Status’ which would add to the pressures on the Planning Service.
Result
Spirals was asked to present its findings to the internal team who fully supported the more pragmatic approach. Spirals was then asked to develop a project plan with the following strategic outcomes.
• To meet the standard for Major applications by April 2007
• To demonstrate to the CPA the Council’s ability to deliver improvements in performance
• To deliver high priority actions by April 2007
The Director responsible for the service commissioned Spirals to project manage the project. The team felt the use of an external project manager provided a clear focus for the work and provided the capacity to make the improvements required.
Ref: 00181