Development Management Performance Update - Fq4 2024/2025
Argyll and Bute Council · 21 May 2025
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee — 21 May 2025 and its agenda
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Classification: OFFICIAL ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL PPSL COMMITTEE Development and Economic Growth 21 May 2025 Development Management Performance Update – FQ4 2024/25 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 This report provides an update on the performance of the Development Management Service for the reporting period FQ4 2024/25. 1.2 The attached document Appendix 1 provides an overview of the current demands upon the Development Management Service, its output during this period, the handling of the current backlog of casework, and the average time taken to determine planning applications. 2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that PPSL: (a) Review and agree the content of the report. 3.0 DETAIL & BACKGROUND 3.1 The performance of the Council’s Development Management Service has been significantly impacted by the legacy effect of the Covid Pandemic upon interruption to workflow and a subsequent increase in demand for regulatory activity relating to new development. This situation has been exacerbated by the Service having previously been down-sized in response to the longer-term wider financial pressures facing the Council combined with a number of long-term vacancies that proved extremely difficult to fill as a result of a national shortage of planning professionals. The determination of planning applications has also been impacted by the uncertainty created by a changing planning policy backdrop with the Scottish Government’s adoption of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in February 2023 with minimal transition arrangements having had a noticeable adverse impact on FQ4 2022/23 output as a result of a significant volume of casework requiring to be reassessed prior to its determination. The cumulative effect of these extraordinary pressures has given rise to a significant backlog of planning casework that continues to impact upon the ability of the Council to deliver the Development Management Service in an efficient and effective manner at this time, and impacts upon customer service. At FQ4 2022/23 the backlog of applications amounted to approximately 375 formal applications and 175 pre-application enquiries.
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Classification: OFFICIAL 3.2 An Improvement Action Plan (IAP) was prepared in early 2023 in response to the significant decrease in performance and wider issues impacting upon the resourcing of the service and its interactions with customers. The implementation of the IAP has ensured the delivery of additional capacity within the Development Management Service and along with this improvement initially in terms of output and more latterly improving trends are also now able to be identified in relation to the making of timely determinations. Building upon the foundation of the IAP, the Development Management Service Plan and Development Management Charter approved by PPSL on 18th September 2024 set out updated performance targets for the Service. These include a wider range of measures that seek to demonstrate the delivery of individual elements of the IAP and in addition to timeliness include measures which can be utilised to measure customer satisfaction, and staff welfare. Updated back office procedures are required to efficiently collect the data required for reporting on the enhanced range of measures and it is intended that these will be in place by the end of 2024/25. 3.3 DEMAND: The Development Management Service receive approximately 2000 planning and related application case work items on an annual basis. The Development Management Service is resourced with the expectation that demand will be relatively constant and steady throughout the year. Whilst the volume of new submissions decreased by approximately 10% during 2020/21 they had returned to and exceeded pre-pandemic levels during 2021/22. Submission rates have subsequently been maintained at a high level and during 2022/23 were 5% up on pre-pandemic levels. Appendix 1, Sheet 1 shows that whilst submission rates continued to show an increase in demand during FQ1 2024/25 this has decreased slightly during the subsequent quarters through to FQ4. Notwithstanding the slight decline in the number of new applications the volume of new submissions during 2024/25 remained comparable with the previous year. 3.4 The resource constraints and performance of the Development Management Service have been highlighted at a senior level within the Council and continue to be subject to regular reporting to Policy Leads/ELT. An improving financial position following the reform of statutory planning fees by the Scottish Government in April 2022 has supported the creation of 3 new professional officer posts that provide additional capacity within the Service. During FQ4 2024/25 the DM Service has largely operated with a full staff compliment but has continued to be impacted by unplanned absence, including the impact of work related stress. In an effort to make further inroads in the backlog of casework, an additional two agency staff have been retained to augment the MAKI and BCHL teams; prior notification of upcoming vacancies has resulted in Agency staff being retained to provide cover whilst recruitment is undertaken as a means of supporting existing staff with health and performance issues and maintaining productivity. The use of temporary staff resource to provide additional capacity has had a significant positive impact and has enabled the team to reduce the volume of ‘live’ applications by over 55% in a period of 19 months with the number of live applications reducing from 852 in Sept. 2023 to 463 by end of March 2025. The reduced volume of ‘live’ caseworks has resulted in more manageable individual
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Classification: OFFICIAL caseloads for planning officers and is starting to become evident in reducing time periods for the determination of applications and a reduced level of complaints relating to failure to communicate effectively and efficiently with applicants. 3.5 OUTPUT: The most positive impact of the increased availability of professional officer resource within the DM Service has however been evident with the continued delivery of above average output demonstrated since FQ1 2023/24. Output for the most recent reporting period, FQ4 2024/25 maintains a period of excellent performance. (Appendix 1, Sheet 2). 3.6 Improving output also means that the Service is now making significant inroads in addressing the outstanding casework backlog (Appendix 1, Sheet 3). At the end of FQ3 2024/25 the identified backlog of formal casework had reduced to a negligible level. A review of ‘live’ casework has however identified that whilst there has been significant progress in the management of the backlog some 86 ‘legacy’ cases which are older than 1 year from validation remain ‘live’ (Appendix 1, Sheet 4). 3.7 PRE-APPLICATION ENQUIRIES: Demand for pre-application advice remains high, particularly following the adoption of LDP2 in 2024. Pre-application turnover is currently on track. Performance during FQ4 has met demand from new submissions. A commitment has been provided to review and improve the pre-application process, this will include the provision of enhanced information on the Council website to allow a greater proportion of customers to ‘self-serve’; development and roll out of a new pre-application service has been identified as a priority project for 2025. 3.8 ‘HOUSEHOLDER’ DEVELOPMENT: The performance of the Development Management Service is also measured in terms of the time taken to determine applications as it is recognised that failure to provide timely decisions can create uncertainty and be detrimental to the delivery of development across the Council area. Overall ‘time-taken’ measures are however currently skewed by the determination of a high volume of older ‘legacy’ applications that have accrued as part of the planning backlog. The increasing proportion of older applications being determined from FQ3 2022/23 onwards is identified in the bar graphs that provide a breakdown of application age within the average time measures (Appendix 1, Sheet 5 and Sheet 6) and demonstrate that ‘legacy’ applications are successfully being targeted for determination. FQ4 has seen 4 remaining ‘legacy’ ‘householder’ items determined providing an expectation that the significant improvement to underlying performance should start to become evident in the overall average time measures during 2025/26. 3.9 The determination of ‘legacy’ applications for the time being does however continue to have adverse consequences for overall average time performance measures as the determination of a relatively small number of older applications
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Classification: OFFICIAL significantly impacts upon these KPIs. This is particularly evident again within the ‘householder’ average time measure (Appendix 1, Sheet 5) where despite 88% of all householder determinations being determined in an average time of 8.5 weeks this measure is significantly impacted by the determination of just 4 older applications that have cumulatively added 5.7 weeks to the average time period for determination of this KPI. The overall reduction in ‘legacy’ items has however allowed for improvement of the headline KPI from 15.9 weeks in FQ 3 to 14.2 weeks in FQ4. It is also highlighted that this position relates to ‘raw’ data and does not factor in delays which have arisen as a result of matters outwith the control of the Council, or applications that have been subject to processing agreements. During FQ4 the Council determined a number of legacy applications which have impacted on the raw data relating to the average time period, including items that were delayed largely due to matters outwith the control of the Council. Whilst the data sets are not directly comparable it is still helpful to reference the SG Returns as a benchmark. In this respect the national average for householder applications at FQ2 2024/25 was 8.7 weeks. 3.10 ‘LOCAL’ DEVELOPMENT: The determination of ‘legacy’ applications had a similar impact upon the average time taken measure applied to all other ‘local’ planning applications (Appendix 1, Sheet 6) where the determination of 20 ‘legacy’ applications during FQ4 cumulatively added 10.8 weeks to an average time measure that reports on the determination of 147 applications in total. During FQ4 2024/25 86% of all other ‘local’ applications determined were less than 1 year old at the time of their determination and were determined in an average of 15.6 weeks (previously 81% in 17.0 weeks at FQ3). 75% of the total were less than 6 months old and determined in 12.2 weeks on average (previously 67% in 12.7 weeks in FQ3). The average time taken to determine ‘all other local applications’ has improved during FQ4 from 31.2 weeks to 26.4 weeks. It is again highlighted that this position relates to ‘raw’ data and does not factor in delays which have arisen as a result of matters outwith the control of the Council, or applications that have been subject to processing agreements. During FQ4 the Council determined a number of legacy applications which have impacted on the raw data relating to the average time period, including items that were delayed largely due to matters outwith the control of the Council. Whilst the data sets are not directly comparable it is still helpful to reference the SG Returns as a benchmark. In this respect the national average for local applications (excluding householder) at FQ2 2024/25 was 14.8 weeks. 3.11 CONCLUSION: The backlog of planning casework (Appendix 1, Sheet 3) at the end of FQ4 has reduced by a further 50 formal applications during FQ4. Whilst this is an improving position it is highlighted that the determination of legacy items will continue to impact upon performance. Whilst it is expected that headline performance on ‘householder’ items should return within target early in 2025/26, the determination of extant ‘legacy’ items will continue to impact on ‘local’ application performance until such time as the remaining items have been determined, and subject to
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Classification: OFFICIAL appropriate action which prevents new ‘legacy’ items from accruing. Analysis of the granular data shows that average time periods for determining applications are continuing to reduce and that despite headline figures that might raise alarm, the majority of applications continue to be processed within much faster timescales that are showing improvement over time and which within the target of being within 10% of the national average. Improving performance also underlines the importance of ensuring that the Development Management Service is adequately resourced as improved efficiency in the handling of applications has been attained through the reduction in individual officer’s caseloads to manageable levels with limited exceptions 4.0 IMPLICATIONS 4.1 Policy None 4.2 Financial None 4.3 Legal None 4.4 HR None 4.5 Customer Service Requirement to manage customer expectations in the determination planning and related applications 4.6 Risk Failure to determine planning and related applications in efficient and effective manner would have potential to adversely impact upon the local economy, delivery of housing, and health and wellbeing of individuals. 4.7 Climate Change None 4.8 Fairer Scotland Duty 4.9 Equalities – Protected Characteristics None 4.10 Socio-economic Duty None 4.11 Island Communities None 4.12 The Rights of the Child (UNCRC) None Executive Director with responsibility for Development and Economic Growth: Kirsty Flanagan Policy Lead: Cllr Kieron Green 8th May 2025 For further information contact: Peter Bain – 01546 604204 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – FQ4 2024/25 DM report to ELT