Eastleigh planners in UK Top 30 - and best performing borough in Hampshire
One of only 21 'silver' standard planning authorities nationwide
Eastleigh Borough Council’s planners are the best performing borough in Hampshire - and in the Top 30 nationally.
That’s the finding of a recent assessment by Planning magazine (the UK’s professional publication for town planning) which ranks Eastleigh as 26th best performing local planning authority (LPA) in the country. Eastleigh is one of only 21 LPAs nationally identified as delivering a ‘silver’ standard of decision-making - with performance being significantly higher than the statutory level - and the only borough or district council in Hampshire to achieve a rating this high.
Planning analysed performance data which ranks LPAs on four criteria: their speed of decision-making for major, and for non-major planning applications, and the quality of decision-making for major and non-major applications. Performance on speed is judged by the proportion of applications in a two-year period that are decided within statutory time limits, while performance on decision quality is judged by the proportion of an authority’s decisions that are overturned on appeal.
Planning’s assessment, which is based on statistics collected by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, is seen as providing useful lessons for what factors contribute to an excellent planning service, as well as the main causes of poor performance.
The Leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, Councillor Keith House, said: “This is great news and is confirmation of the excellence of Eastleigh’s planning service. It also reflects the hard work, professionalism and expertise of the whole Planning team who are to be congratulated on this achievement.”