Fast-track permission for plans created
Benitachell tackles ‘one of the main problems’ suffered by town planning departments
BENITACHELL town hall has dramatically cut waiting times for planning permission – from a year and a half to just over a month.
Homeowners wanting to build a swimming pool, terrace or extension were facing huge delays until recently, with the average application taking from 14 to 18 months to be granted or declined.
Now, residents typically only have to wait four or five weeks, says town planning councillor Jorge Pascual.
The new-found efficiency is largely the result of a restructure, since applications used to be outsourced, Sr Pascual explains.
Previously, the services were provided by external professionals, ‘which made the department unstable’.
Instead, new in-house staff have been taken on, with a chief architect, a technical architect, and a lawyer specialising in land and property to support the existing two admin employees and the works inspector.
Only the legal expert is from an outside firm, but ‘under contract’, explained the councillor.
The department has finally cleared a backlog dating back to 2018 ‘through a concerted effort involving fast-tracking
smaller and simpler cases’.
A grant from the regional government's land and housing department, to the tune of €15,000, is being used to get the planning permission process into the digital age, with as many transactions as possible being available online.
“It has been possible to tackle one of the main problems suffered by these departments in many towns and cities – the lack of speed in resolving building permits,” noted Sr Pascual.