Gloucestershire councils ranked on speed in deciding developments

National data shows where developers face most delays in Gloucestershire when applying for planning permission.

The Government ranks local authorities on the percentage of planning applications they decide within eight weeks or within the agreed time

The latest tables, which are split between major and minor developments, have been compiled by analysing data ranging from July 2021 to June 2023.

For major plans such as where ten or more houses will be built or an area bigger than 1.2 acres will be developed, Stroud District Council, at 181 out of 324 nationally, is the best performing in Gloucestershire.

They also top the list of authorities in the county in how fast they deal with minor applications such as a house extension or one to nine homes. They rank 105th in England.

Cotswold District Council is the second fastest in the county in dealing with major developments. They rank 203rd but are also second from bottom when it comes to deciding minor applications. They are ranked as 308th nationally.

Gloucester City Council is bottom of the county table for minor planning applications. They are 310th in England.

But they have been marked down by the Government for not being able to provide all of their data due to the cyber attack in 2021.

And at 248th, they are also the second slowest in the county in determining major applications.

All of Gloucestershire councils are in the bottom half of the national table for minor applications apart from Stroud (105th) and Cheltenham (153rd).

The Forest of Dean is ranked 212th for major applications and 216th for processsing minor developments.

However, Tewkesbury Borough Council at 310 out of 324 authorities across England, is the worst in Gloucestershire in terms of speed in determining major applications.

While their performance is better in dealing with smaller applications. They are ranked 267th for these.

Tewkesbury’s lead member for built environment Mary Jordan (LD, Churchdown St John’s) says the authority has a live programme in place to improve.

“We are a fast-growing borough, and we know that we need to continue to improve how quickly we make planning decisions.

“Reflecting this, we have a live improvement programme in place being delivered by our planning team,” she said.

“The programme focuses on automating processes, improving the customer experience, and shaping the team to help it meet the significant challenges that the service faces, including the current national issue of recruiting planners.

“We have also recently been successful in a bid to join a government programme aimed at making the validation process easier for applicants, which will help to reduce the number of invalid applications being submitted and processed.”

Gloucester City Council say they have been penalised by the Government for being late in reporting their planning performance figures.

They say this is due to the cyber attack they suffered and are confident their true performance figures are significantly better.

“Due to the cyber incident, we have been unable to report our planning performance figures to the Government for the last 18 months,” a City Council spokesperson said.

“The figures in this report are based on our previous performance, with a 15% penalty for not being able to report up-to-date figures.

“We have now resolved the issue and are in the process of providing the Government with backdated information. We are confident that our true performance figures are significantly better than the current picture shows.”

Cheltenham Borough Council’s customer and regulatory services cabinet member Martin Horwood (LD, Leckhampton) said he was pleased their performance remains strong.

“The council has determined 82 per cent of its major planning applications within the government’s 13-week target (or within an alternative time period agreed with the applicant) and 86 per cent of its non-major applications within the government’s 8-week deadline (or agreed alternative),” he said.

“Cheltenham’s performance in respect of non-major applications, which represent the overwhelming majority of all applications received, is above the average for England.

“This reflects the dedication and pragmatism of the council staff and members.

“We will be building upon this performance over the coming months as we review the Development Management function as whole and implement a series of improvements.

Cotswold District Council’s chief executive Robert Weaver says he is pleased performance is remaining stable and above the targets set by the Government.

“We have seen a period of upward performance over the past few months due to enhancements our staff have made within the service,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Forest of Dean District Council said the authority is pleased to have seen a period of upward performance over the course of this year. They say this due to enhancements colleagues have made within the service.

“We remain on our journey of continuous improvement through a series of changes we hope will improve our service user experience and go even further to enhance performance,” they said.

Councils ranked by speed in deciding major applications