The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has updated its criteria for assessing local planning authority (LPA) performance in determining applications for major and non-major development.
DCLG writes:
A local planning authority can be designated only if, by reference to the criteria in this document, ‘the Secretary of State considers that there are respects in which the authority are not adequately performing their function of determining applications’.
The performance of local planning authorities in determining major and non-major development will be assessed separately, meaning that an authority could be designated on the basis of its performance in determining applications for major development, applications for non-major development, or both. The assessment for each of these two categories of development will be against two separate measures of performance:
- the speed with which applications are dealt with measured by the proportion of applications that are dealt with within the statutory time or an agreed extended period; and,
- the quality of decisions made by local planning authorities measured by the proportion of decisions on applications that are subsequently overturned at appeal.
Therefore, the performance of local planning authorities will be assessed separately against:
- the speed of determining applications for major development
- the quality of decisions made by the authority on applications for major development;
- the speed of determining applications for non-major development;
- the quality of decisions made by the authority on applications for non-major development.
