Issue - meetings

To consider increasing the staffing establishment to address increasing demands arising from current and future development in the District.

RESOLVED:

(a)     That expenditure of up to £267,000 be approved for additional staff in the Policy and Strategy and Development Control Service areas, as set out in Report Item 4 to the Cabinet, and the following additional posts be approved:

Principal Planning Delivery Officer (Team Leader)

Planning Graduate/Trainee (Policy and Plans Team)

Senior Environmental Design Officer

Landscape Architect

Planning Delivery Assistant

Site Monitoring Officer

Senior Development Management Officer

Senior Planning Enforcement Officer

(b)     That expenditure of up to £88,600 be approved for additional staff in the Open Spaces Service area, as set out in Report Item 4 to the Cabinet, and the following additional posts be approved:

Open Space Transfer Officer

Open Space Transfer Assistant.

(c)     That the Chief Executive be authorised to hold further discussions with the National Park Authority on improving arrangements for working together with them.

The Cabinet considered the staffing resources that would be needed within the Planning and Open Spaces service areas to respond to forthcoming levels of development in the District.  The current staffing resource was based on the restricted growth levels defined in the current Local Plan.   The number, scale and complexity of applications to be determined would increase markedly under the new Local Plan.  Members considered that it was important to be adequately resourced to ensure that applications were determined in a professional and timely fashion; and also that the developments were constructed to a high standard in order to protect the special character of the area.  Planning applications would need to be assessed carefully and implementation monitored to ensure that there was no diminution in quality.

The proposed additional posts would be funded, in due course, from additional fee income, work chargeable to the Community Infrastructure Levy and increased charges to developers in respect of land transfers and the management and maintenance of that land.  Fee income would be unlikely to cover the additional costs in the initial stages.

Members were advised that a report would be brought to a future meeting of the Cabinet on the level of resource that would be needed in the Legal Service to support the consequential additional workload on planning.

Members were advised that the National Park Authority had now responded to this Council’s invitation to discuss ways of improving the working arrangements between the two organisations (Minute 76, 7 March 2018 refers).  They did not wish to consider a single managed planning service, but welcomed the opportunity to discuss formal leadership engagement between the two organisations; working together and sharing services.

RESOLVED:

(a)     That expenditure of up to £267,000 be approved for additional staff in the Policy and Strategy and Development Control Service areas, as set out in Report Item 4 to the Cabinet, and the following additional posts be approved:

Principal Planning Delivery Officer (Team Leader)

Planning Graduate/Trainee (Policy and Plans Team)

Senior Environmental Design Officer

Landscape Architect

Planning Delivery Assistant

Site Monitoring Officer

Senior Development Management Officer

Senior Planning Enforcement Officer

(b)     That expenditure of up to £88,600 be approved for additional staff in the Open Spaces Service area, as set out in Report Item 4 to the Cabinet, and that the following additional posts be approved:

Open Space Transfer Officer

Open Space Transfer Assistant.

(c)     That the Chief Executive be authorised to hold further discussions with the National Park Authority on improving arrangements for working together with them.