Council streamlines planning system as open cases cut by nearly 1,000

Like councils across the UK, Bolton saw a marked increase in planning applications during the COVID pandemic resulting in the number of open cases peaking at 1,200 cases.

This has now been reduced significantly to just 350 cases, thanks to the hard work of the council’s Planning Department.

Building on this success, the council is now introducing new systems to ensure applications can be processed promptly and within national guidelines.

While the majority of planning applications the council receives are capable of being approved quickly, a number fall significantly below the standards expected by national and local planning guidelines.

Negotiating improvements to these applications has been a considerable drain on resources, which has a knock-on effect on the time it takes to process all other applications.

Under the new system, applications that need significant alteration will be refused outright, allowing the planning team to focus resources on those applications that meet policy requirements and which can be determined more quickly with limited intervention from officers.

Applications that meet the necessary policy requirement will be determined quicker.

To complement these changes, the council is also introducing a comprehensive and value-for-money pre-application service.

This will give applicants the opportunity to ask questions, seek advice and fully understand the correct process before they formally submit.

The council has already held a face-to-face meeting with local planning agents to explain the new approaches.

Bolton Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for planning, Deputy Leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman, said:

“These changes bring us in line with some other councils, who are already taking a much stronger line on rejecting substandard planning applications and this will allow other applications to be considered faster.

“The pre-application service will be a useful tool for agents and developers to prepare and submit their applications to us and I would encourage them to use it.

“A more efficient system will greatly benefit our residents and businesses who are keen to secure planning permission and get on with development or renovation work.”