Bolton Council has confirmed that up to 20 staff from its planning department face redundancy as the planning authority grapples with making savings of more than £1m, prompted by a significant fall in income from planning and building control applications.
During 2006-07, Bolton dealt with 2,369 planning applications. So far this financial year there have been 1,440. Over the same period, building regulations applications have fallen from 19,036 to 13,444. Land searches have also dropped from 9,678 to 5,218. Staff are being consulted about the cuts, a final decision on which is expected next February.
