Technical Notes 2021, Issue 26 - Planning and Building Standards - Performance and Site Visits

There is has been no discernible negative impact on Building Standards response rates as a result of the pandemic although. From the table noted above the average days to respond to applications for Building Warrants did increase for later quarters, however this coincided with the ability for Building Standards staff to recommence with site visit work. In addition, Building Standards received notification in December 2020 that the National Customer Satisfaction rating has increased from 4.8 to 6.9.
 

Elected Members queried site visit protocols as a result of the pandemic and any link to performance as a result. In the early weeks of lockdown in March/April 2020, both the Planning and Building Standards Services had to establish some businesses continuity measures, in particular in relation to neighbour notification processes. This did result in applications being stalled due to the restrictions in place. Please refer to Appendix 1 which shows the impact of restricted working practices during the first 8 weeks of the pandemic for both Planning and Building Standards. During this period the service was unable to receive paper mail which could have included representations, print off neighbour notification letter, print site notices or carry out any site visits. Planning Board had also been cancelled over this period. Officers did continue to assess planning applications however; any planning application which had the 21-day minimum neighbour notification period expiring on or after 16th March were not decided. This was to ensure no paper representations were missed which might be relevant in the consideration of the application. Once access to paper mail was restored, any representations were collated and the application decided or referred to Planning Board if necessary. Planning applications, which did not meet the terms of the Scheme of Delegation and required a Planning Board decision, were put on hold until a date was available. Following the appropriate risk assessments being put in place solo site visits recommenced on 24 July 2020 for both Planning and Building Standards Officers where alternative evidence was not appropriate. This protocol remains in operation and both services are running almost business as usual levels of service. The main exception to this is the continued avoidance of accompanied Planning Board and Local Review Body site visits. Officers continue to review this position as Government guidance emerges.
 

Action Taken:
 

Officers continue to review the latest Government Guidance in the context of service delivery. Planning Board and LRB Site Visits will be re-introduced according to corporate risk assessment conclusions.