Planning Applications Update

April 2022

Due to a 40% increase in the number of planning applications being submitted, we are experiencing difficultly processing planning applications within the statutory 8 or 13 week target set by government.

We have been working hard to prioritise the determination of applications that have gone beyond the statutory target date, working back from the oldest cases. Unfortunately this will take some time and whilst progress has been good, we still have a significant number of applications that require determination. 

If your application has an assigned case officer, please note that each officer is balancing an extremely high caseload of applications, determining applications within the statutory timescales alongside those that have gone beyond their statutory target date. If your application does not have an assigned case officer, please be advised that we are looking to seek additional staff and resources in order to re-allocate your case as soon as possible. Once a new case officer has been identified we will contact with you/your Agent to advise you of this and provide their contact details. Please do not chase us on these cases as we unfortunately do not have a different response to offer. 

We understand this situation is incredibly frustrating for our customers but please be assured this does not mean your application isn’t an important priority for us and we will determine it as soon as possible.

As the determination of planning applications remains our current priority, we are unfortunately unable to commit to responding to pre-application enquiries for minor and householder development proposals at this present time. We would therefore recommend that for any new enquiries you proceed directly to the submission of a planning application. 

We continue to extend our sincerest apologies for the further delay and appreciate your continued patience during this exceptionally busy and difficult period.