We’ve been working alongside Chorley Council’s planning department to help residents get their householder planning applications processed as efficiently and accurately as possible.
The issue
When periods of high planning application volumes hit, it is sometimes hard for local authorities to turn around application outcomes as efficiently as they would like due to reduced inhouse planning capacity.
Our approach
Over a six month period we flexibly worked with Chorley Council to clear planning application backlogs and process incoming minor planning applications so their existing team could focus on other complex tasks.
Once onboard, our team:
- quickly familiarised themselves with proposals, planning history and planning policy framework
- completed site visits
- assessed consultees and third parties
- negotiated with applicants to add value to proposals
- prepared delegated / committee reports with recommendations and list of planning conditions.
The outcome
We ensured that high volumes of applications were processed accurately and rapidly, meaning residents were able to get their housing extensions completed as soon as possible.
Our planning resilience team started work with short notice and all KPIs set by the council were achieved. Our overall support helped the under-resourced team at Chorley Council to maintain commitments to customers and has led to us working together on further planning resilience work, helping to provide the best possible solutions for the people and businesses of Chorley.
“Capita was very knowledgeable and adapted quickly to the job, learning new policies and methods of working with ease. There was a good balance in terms of asking for advice from senior staff but not bombarding them as well as always presenting potential solutions to issues.”
Caron Taylor, Principal Planner at Chorley Council,
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