Work is now under way which should see neighbouring planning authorities in north Wales sharing staff and collaborating to provide both development and building control services.
This initiative is expected to take two years to come to fruition and involves Conwy County Borough Council’s Regulatory Service and Denbighshire County Council’s Planning and Public Protection Department.
Joint working is already taking place between community safety, licensing, food safety and more recently community safety enforcement, but this project aims to formalise and extend the existing arrangements.
Phil Rafferty, head of regulatory services at Conwy CBC, said, “We need to identify efficiency savings, while maintaining a level and quality of service provision that our communities expect and deserve. This project will look at organisational issues and solutions, and we expect that our customers are unlikely to notice any significant difference to services.”
The project is looking at such issues as the effectiveness of existing structures, business processes, IT solutions, team meetings and internal communications.
Graham Boase, head of planning and public protection at Denbighshire CC, said: “This is an innovative, yet logical step, given the areas of collaboration already taking place. It will present a significant opportunity for both Conwy and Denbighshire to maintain and improve the way in which we deliver our services, amid the ever increasing pressure being placed on public sector finances.”
Other services earmarked for joint-working include local charges, licensing, environmental protection/pollution and public health and housing enforcement.
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