MP calls for action over ‘dire state’ of council planning work
THE MP for Portsmouth North made a rare appearance at a city council meeting to raise concerns about the ‘dire’ state of its planning work.
In only her second deputation at one of its meetings, Penny Mordaunt said actions taken by the council to tackle the ‘massive problem’ - with a backlog of applications and a lack of progress on the new Local Plan had not gone far enough.
‘I recognise the additional challenges the department has had to deal with - Covid and nitrates being two,’ she said ‘but even allowing for that we have been in a dire situation with major backlogs and poor service.’
In a bid to reduce the number of applications waiting in the system, the council held a two-week shutdown of the department beginning at the end of April during which it processed about 250 of them.
Previous attempts, includingpaying £50,000 to specialist firm Terraquest, had a limited impact. In December the chairman of the planning committee C ll rH ugh Mason said that despite hiring Terraquest and trying to recruit more planners, there was still a backlog of 280 applications waiting for a decision.
But Ms Mordaunt said the problems went beyond the back log and had led to strategic issues on major projects within the department.
She said the council had ‘squandered’ efforts to create a masterplan for the St James' Hospital site, having lost ‘key’ documents and by failing to respondto a Homes England consultation.
She added that the council was 'oscillating between two plans, neither of which are practically possible' for the Tipner West area.
‘For years I have been writing to say you have a massive problem,’ she told councillors. 'Some action to change culture and build capacity has been taken but I'm hear to tell you again it's not enough.
Among the suggestions, she called on the council to prioritise improvements in the department with performance measures and agreeing to meet with the chief planning officer of England to' clarify confusion' over housing targets .
Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said difficulties in the department were not unique to Portsmouth: He said: ‘Every council is having problems with planning. We have made progress but it's an issue that's mainly down to the government.