- Planning appeal decisions could be cut by five months
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Posted 12.02.19
GOV.UK: Article link
The most contentious planning cases could be decided up to five months faster, and some in half the time, giving certainty to communities about future developments, a major review has found.
Independent review led by Bridget Rosewell says the average time to decide a planning appeal inquiry could be slashed from 47 to 26 weeks.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said speeding up decisions can help the government achieve its ambition of delivering 300,000 homes each year by the mid-2020s.
Faster inquiries into contested development will give house builders and local communities more certainty on when decisions will be made, while also maintaining the ability of the appeals system to prevent inappropriate development.
The wide-ranging review concluded outdated administrative processes and poor IT infrastructure were unnecessarily holding up cases.
The report also suggested that a lack of suitably qualified inspectors was also hampering efforts to set up inquiry hearings on time.
The above link gives access to download the report.
