[E]den District Council’s Planning Department has been identified as one of the most effective planning departments in the country when determining planning applications in a timely manner.
It is important that planning decisions are made in a timely manner as any unreasonable delays can undermine business confidence in investing in the area and cause uncertainty to neighbouring properties as to whether a landowner is going to be granted planning permission or not.
When a planning application is submitted, local planning authorities are encouraged to make a decision within a statutory time period of:
- 13 weeks for major planning applications
- Eight weeks for all other planning applications
A major planning application could be for the construction of 10 or more houses or the construction of a large office.
Each quarter figures are collated by all planning department across the country and sent through to the national government which demonstrate how many applications were determined in time or at agreed time with the applicants.
The government has just released the national results for April to June 2017 and Eden District Council determined 100% of all major applications, 95% of minor applications and 100% of all other applications within the agreed time period.
Throughout this three month period the Council made 170 decisions and 166 decisions were made in time. These figures demonstrate that the department has went from being one of slowest in the country to one of the quickest in less than 12 months.
Compared to other local authorities in Cumbria the planning department’s performance is ranked 1st (major applications), 2nd (minor applications) and 1st (other applications) over the three categories. There were more major planning decisions in Eden (nine) than neighbouring authorities with significant bigger populations such as Carlisle (seven) and South Lakeland (four).
Councillor John Owen MBE, Eden District Council’s Development Portfolio Holder, said: “We are proud to have a local planning authority that is efficient, effective and facilitating the provision of much needed houses in Eden for future generations. It is important that businesses can invest in Eden by providing houses and much needed jobs in the right location, whilst having the confidence that their plans will get off the ground rather than being held up by red tape.
“The fact that there are so many major planning applications that are being considered by the Council is a vote of confidence in doing business in Eden. I would like to thank all of our officers in the Planning Department and the Members of the Planning Committee for their hard work and commitment in improving the performance of the Council over the past 12 months.
“As fantastic as our performance is we are not resting on our laurels. Over the next 12 months members of the public will be able to view planning applications online more clearly, we are also looking at improving other services provided by the planning team such as providing landowners with advice on planning matters and taking planning enforcement action when required.”
To view or comment on planning application in Eden District visit www.eden.gov.uk/planningregister
Eden District Council’s Development Management Team are responsible for planning applications and planning enforcement throughout Eden District (excluding the areas that lie within the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks) to contact them email: planning.services@eden.gov.uk A Duty Planning Officer is available from 10am-1pm, Monday to Friday at the Council’s Mansion House offices in Penrith or call: 01768 817817.
