Planning backlog gets longer

The time taken by council officers to determine planning applications has risen to 16 weeks, above their target of 11 weeks, a paper before Argyll and Bute Council has revealed.

 

In September The Oban Times reported how plans to build simple island homes were part of a ‘significant backlog’ of applications still waiting for decisions.

 

Mary Arnold-Forster, who runs a small architecture practice working all over the West Coast, told The Oban Times at the time she was still waiting for planning decisions on projects dating back more than a year.

 

‘This is only three small projects,' she said, 'but if this is happening to the rest of the architects working in Argyll and Bute what does that mean for economic development of the area? The building industry is a big employer locally.

 

'Our homes are small, low-lying and simple architecture for working people who just want to make a home. Without these planning decisions our clients are stuck, while costs for building materials keep going up.'

 

The architect said delays were making some of her clients weigh up whether or not to stay on their islands.

 

Argyll & Bute Council’s planning service apologised for delays, and said it was experiencing a significant backlog. ‘Although officers are working hard, local applications are currently taking an average of 15 weeks to determine,’ it said on the planning portal.

 

That delay has now risen further, said the policy lead for planning and regulatory services, councillor Kieron Green, in an update for the full council meeting on Thursday November 24.

 

'With the Central Validation Team operating at full capacity, the time taken to validate planning applications has been reduced,' councillor Green began. 'This had reached 19 days in August, but by October been brought to under 10 days although this is still above the target of five working days.

 

'Time to determine applications continues to rise, however, and has now reached an average of 15.6 weeks compared to the target of 11 weeks. Issues with capacity and resilience of the service remain due to staff vacancies and unplanned absence, preventing a return to pre-pandemic performance of between eight and 10 weeks.'