Member Advisory Panel: Cheshire East Planning Process Review
To receive a verbal update from the Chair of the Member Advisory Working Group Sub-Committee (Planning).
Minutes:
Councillor Tony Dean updated the committee on the work of the Planning Member Advisory Panel (MAP). This MAP was sitting alongside a deep-dive full-systems review of Planning services as instigated by the Executive Director of Place. The review included staffing issues and external users of the planning service.
The review entails three phases, the first is the largest and will report back in April. Phase two and three will complete in December 2022.
Councillor Dean noted that Cheshire East Council experienced one of the highest numbers of planning applications in the country with over 6,000 a year; Cheshire was an area where people wanted to build and extend, however the council does spend more in resources than the cost of the application which was an area of scrutiny. Other councils operate a definitive cut off point and reject applications for lack of information after three-weeks and it is incumbent on the applicant to pay again.