The email, which was sent to developers by a senior staff member within the unit this week, says the problems are due, in part, to the government’s restructuring of the civil service – as it implements a new ‘target operating model’ – which has led to some vacancies going unfilled. The update also announced the resignation of one officer who had been dealing with around 70 applications.
The email says: ‘The department continues to face unprecedented work volumes (over 500 applications awaiting determination). The situation is compounded by vacancies, some of which cannot be recruited for due to TOM [internal restructuring]. The team are under huge pressure and we thank you for your understanding.
‘The number of compliance cases is also at a record high of circa 276 live cases. The team are prioritising the most urgent. Following the finalisation of TOM, this team will gain a dedicated manager and additional staff.’
Senator Steve Pallett, who has previously raised concerns about the Planning Department, says Islanders who are paying for services are not getting value for money.
‘I think we are all aware that senior planning officers have left the department and replacements have not been recruited in the necessary timeframe and the remaining staff are not managing to deal with the backlog in applications,’ he said.
‘It is not fair to the -public who are paying for the service and expect their applications – for things like home extensions and other small things – to be dealt with in a reasonable timeframe.
‘They seem to be taking forever to get through. And when there are objections and they have to go before the Planning Committee, they are taking months to be sorted.’
Senator Pallett added that he was aware of cases where planning laws were deliberately being breached but, due to a lack of resources, no action was being taken for extended periods of time.
He added: ‘From my point of view, there seem to be problems around enforcement too. Even when there has been an absolutely blatant abuse of the planning laws, it will take many months for any action to start.
‘It is very disappointing when the Island has clear planning guidelines and the Island Plan. People are falling on the wrong side of the law and are not being made to put things right.
‘In February or March, I was told that they had 186 cases so it is a bit of a surprise that there are now 276. The speed of new cases coming in seems to have built up.’
In 2019, the then government chief executive, Charlie Parker, announced the implementation of the target operating model, which he said was intended to streamline government departments and save money.
But Senator Pallett said that it was taking too long to implement and, in the case of Planning, was preventing a department from functioning properly.
He said: ‘The target operating model is not allowing the Planning Department to recruit the officers it needs. I think a number of States Members all know that. It [the TOM] has taken a ridiculous amount of time to implement and means we are not providing the quality of service that the TOM set out to provide.
‘It has been about three or three and a half years since Charlie Parker arrived and he has now moved on and we have got a new [interim] chief executive. When [TOM] was introduced, we were told it would be a quick process but we are now told there are problems and it is causing issues within departments.
‘He left a legacy of unfinished business and did not complete what he was brought here to do.’
