Householder Applications - We want your opinions

Since July 2009, the SDC planning team has been undertaking an extensive review of the planning application process to understand what our customers (planning applicants) really experience. This is not just looking at our performance against national targets but the experience of submitting a planning application from a customer’s point of view.

Our data collection shows that 57% of householder applications received are INVALID for one or more reasons. The top 5 invalid reasons are:

• Missing Energy Statements
• Missing Plans (existing/proposed elevations/floor plans)
• Missing or inaccurate Block Plans
• No fee received
• Missing or inaccurate Location Plan

Invalid applications result in frustrating delays for our customers (the applicants) and create extra work for planning officers and administrative staff – a resource that could be better used to improve other areas of the service for the benefit of everyone.

We would welcome your comments/suggestions on how we could reduce the number of invalid applications we receive.

Please respond by Wednesday 31 March 2010

Comment Online

You can comment online by using our online form.

Comment by Email

You can send your comments by e-mail to planning.technicians@stratford-dc.gov.uk

Comment by Post

Alternatively, you could write to us at;

Planning Services
Elizabeth House
Church Street
Stratford-upon-Avon
CV37 6HX

New Householder Team

Historically, the Council has strived to perform well in determining planning applications within government targets. However, the key findings of our work show the following:

• 33 % of applications were determined on day 56 - (the last day of an 8 week target);
• 33% of applications received were re-submissions, following a refusal or withdrawn scheme; and

• the end-to-end time for householder applicants (from receipt of the first application to an approval being issued), on average, was 123 days.

We have now agreed that our purpose is to ’enable appropriate development through a high-quality, transparent and efficient process’.

In autumn 2009, we made some fundamental changes to our administrative processes, which have resulted in significant reductions to the time it takes us to get applications moving.

Since November 2009, we have introduced a new Householder Team for dealing with applications to alter or extend a residential property, particularly to address the issues identified above.

Whilst it is early days, data so far shows that the new team takes, on average, 37 days from making an application valid (42 days from receipt) to issue an approval.