Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Service Manager Development & Estates.

The Committee considered the report of the Service Manager Development & Estates.

The Service Manager presented the performance information for Quarter 2 for the period July to September 2019.  Performance remained consistent and Blaenau Gwent was in joint second position in Wales for planning applications determined ‘on time’.  Table 2 on page 8 of the report showed that Blaenau Gwent was in 10^th position in terms of the average time taken to decide applications, and the Officer said he would like to see improvement on that position.  Table 3 showed the rank positions of LPA’s taking decisions contrary to Officer recommendation, and   Blaenau Gwent was ranked 22^nd with 33%.  This figure was very high and above the Wales average.

In response to a Member’s comments regarding the number of decisions taken against Officer recommendation, the Officer acknowledged that planning decisions were never ‘clear cut’.  However, he expressed concern that this figure was consistently high for the Council given the volume of applications received, and needed to be looked at.

RESOLVED that the report be accepted and the information contained therein be noted.