Significant progress made in improvements to planning services at North Northamptonshire Council
Planning and building control12 November 2024
Significant improvement has been made in bringing positive transformation to North Northamptonshire Council’s planning department – according to a recent progress review of the service.
An update report after the visit by the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) will be heard at the Council’s Executive this week.
The peer team particularly noted the move to two planning committees and the updated scheme of delegation, demonstrating a proactive approach to streamlining the decision-making process.
The review team also noted the significant progress to coordinate data for developer contributions and providing greater transparency and accountability by publishing an infrastructure funding statement.
The review team was impressed by the culture of collaboration and mutual support demonstrated within the planning department and it was also lauded for establishing apprenticeship programmes to support the development of planning officers.
They also recognised the ongoing efforts to implement a new IT system intended to further enhance the efficiency of the planning service.
However, the update report also recognised that more work is still needed to be done and it was identified that the Council continued to face challenges regarding resource and recruitment, which is common across planning services nationally.
The need for good communication and timely correspondence between the planning service and its stakeholders was regarded as essential and whilst some improvements were noted, it was acknowledged that further improvement was required in this area.
After the initial visit by the Planning Advisory Service we embarked upon our improvement journey as it was essential that we brought about rapid change.Cllr David Brackenbury, the council’s Executive Member for Growth and regeneration
I welcome this progress report and we’re very pleased that it shows real positive change in the department, which is excellent news. While we’re moving in the right direction there is no room for complacency, and we’re committed to continuing on the right trajectory.
I would like to acknowledge the hard work of planning colleagues who have shown tremendous resilience and determination to bring about this improvement. Additionally, I would like to thank the Peer Review team for their expert analysis and would also like to thank everyone who engaged in this process.
This progress report has highlighted widespread improvements that have been made – especially streamlining the decision-making process - and areas where we still need to make further changes.Cllr Jason Smithers, Leader of the Council
I’m grateful for everyone’s hard work in bringing forward these changes and I would like to express my gratitude to the planning improvement board for their diligent efforts in identifying and addressing the challenges we have encountered.
The original peer review was requested by myself back in 2022 as they are a great way of making sure services can transform in the right way. It’s now essential we keep up the momentum to ensure the service is in the best possible shape for the residents of North Northamptonshire.
In September 2022, the initial peer review of the Council’s Planning Service was undertaken by a PAS Peer Review Team. This included an extensive set of interviews and focus groups with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
Following an invitation by the Council, PAS made the second visit to the Council to conduct a progress review in May 2024, where they were also requested to undertake a desktop-based review of the Council’s use of Extensions of Time (EOT) on planning applications.
PAS is part of the Local Government Association and is funded by government. Among other activities, PAS undertake peer reviews for local planning authorities.
Peer reviews can be done for any service and operate through a ‘sector led' approach, where local authorities help each other to continuously improve.