AN independent planning inspector who found the Island’s Planning Department was “seriously dysfunctional” will be “welcomed back” next month to review the progress the Environment Minister says has been made over the past year.
A fourth quarterly update on the Planning Services Improvement Plan, published this week, states that 49 out of 64 “key actions” have been implemented, with 15 still to be implemented, three of which have been delayed.
Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf first published the improvement plan in July last year after Jim Mackinnon, a former chief planner for the Scottish government, wrote a review which found that the processes involved in seeking planning permission were “seriously dysfunctional” and required “radical improvements”.
Mr Mackinnon made 16 recommendations – all of which were accepted by Deputy Renouf – and criticised the democratic nature of the Planning Committee process, the IT systems, and the lack of a manned reception desk for the Planning Department.
Following the publication of the latest update this week, Deputy Renouf said: “As part of my commitment to continuous improvement, and to ensure full transparency, I will be welcoming Jim Mackinnon back in February to review progress over the last year.
“It is important to have independent analysis to ensure that Islanders can see where we are making progress, and where progress is still needed.”
The update showed “improvement in several areas of Planning Services”, with most of the recommendations from the Mackinnon Report implemented on time or ahead of schedule, according to the government.
However, Deputy Renouf added that “a lot more still needs to be done, particularly to speed up the processing of applications”.
Developer Le Masurier’s managing director, Brian McCarthy, recently criticised what he called a “flawed” and “broken” planning system in which the 2½-acre Les Sablons project was caught for two years.
The plans for 238 apartments and a 103-room aparthotel between Broad Street and Commercial Street were finally given the go-ahead in December.
Deputy Renouf denied that the planning system was “broken” and stressed that there had been recent improvements, but recognised that the speed of processing applications was still a “significant issue”.
‘More still needs to be done’
Deputy Renouf acknowledged there was as “ambitious timescale for the transformation of Planning Services”, which had led to some delays.
A “Development Industry Concordat” – and agreement – will be made public in February, two months after originally scheduled, to allow time for the “Development Industry Partnership Board” to review the draft version of the document.
This “working document” was inspired by the Edinburgh Development Concordat and sets out how the public, private and community sectors can work together from pre-application discussions through to post-decision engagement, to ensure expectations in relation to building projects are managed and met.
The decision to postpone publication of the agreement was “a direct result of the feedback received” from the development industry at an engagement event held in November which over 90 stakeholders attended.
The first meeting of an Industry Partnership Board has also been delayed from December until this month.
This new board would meet quarterly with Planning to improve relationships with industry and planners to discuss key issues and changes. Members of the board still need to be approved before it meets at the end of January.
The third delay relates to the Development and Land Compliance Strategy, which was due to be released last month – and which is now set to be available to Islanders this month.
The strategy, an important step towards a more transparent and accessible service, sets out the approach for enforcing planning control’s various powers contained within the Island’s legislation. During December a draft version was internally reviewed.
‘Considerable improvement’
Officers used the last three months of 2023 to build relationships with the industry “to ensure a collaborative approach”, the Environment Minister said.
A customer charter has also been drafted which means Islanders submitting planning applications will soon be able to get a clearer understanding of what to expect when interacting with the department.
The planning and building duty officer service at Customer and Local Services has enabled Islanders to get face-to-face pre-planning application advice. Since its launch in June, it has attracted around 50 visits per month.
The latest update further showed that there was only one planning application awaiting validation and requiring action from Planning at the end of 2023, representing a “considerable improvement” since the Mackinnon Report highlighted significant problems with validation and registration of applications.
And a “validation matrix” has been published which includes guidelines on what information needs to be submitted for each type of application. This aims to speed things up at the start of the process, reducing the need for applications to go back to the applicant for further information.
Deputy Renouf, reflecting on the positives, said: “The final quarterly update of 2023 shows improvement in several areas of Planning Services. Most of the recommendations in the Mackinnon Report have been implemented on time, or even ahead of schedule, reflecting our commitment to promote flexibility, responsiveness, and collaboration in the planning system.
