Council bid to recruit more staff to tackle enforcement backlog
MID Devon District Council is hoping to put its planning enforcement woes behind it with possible recruitment of staff that could take its team back up to full strength.
The authority’s last remaining specialist officer in the team left earlier this year. Now its scrutiny committee has been told the council is about to advertise for two permanent planning enforcement officers who will support an agency officer drafted in at the start of the year to partially fill the void.
The local authority has roughly 300 outstanding planning enforcement cases, but considers only a small percentage of these are categorised as ‘high risk.’
Councillor Steve Keable (Liberal Democrat, Taw Vale), cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration, said one of the two permanent roles would include extra responsibilities, meaning it should attract a more qualified person.
“The adverts will be for an enforcement officer and a senior enforcement officer,” he said.
“Both were previously at the same salary grade, but the additional responsibilities of the senior post have resulted in a higher payment through the job evaluation process required in local government.”
He added that the agency worker was currently contracted until June, and that the contract for that individual “could be extended if it was needed”.
However, he reiterated a message that council officers have stressed before, notably the difficulty of hiring such officers.
“Nationally, there is a shortage of qualified people,” he said. “By uplifting the responsibilities to a senior enforcement officer for one post, it is anticipated that more applicants will be attracted.”
Cllr Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat, Clare & Shuttern), who chairs the scrutiny committee, pledged last month that she would push to get the enforcement service improved in the next 12 months, and reacted positively to the news about the new jobs.
“I want it on record that our efforts mean we have finally pushed things forward and now we are in a position where we have gone from having no enforcement officers to three (including the agency worker),” she said.