Agenda item

·      To present the national report of Audit Wales (for information)

·      To present the local report of Audit Wales in relation to the Isle of Anglesey County Council

·      To present the organisational response

The following documentation was presented for the Committee’s consideration -

• The report of Audit Wales on the Effectiveness of Local Planning Authorities in Wales was presented for information. The national review looked at all aspects of local planning authorities and assessed progress in implementing the Planning (Wales) Act 2014 and it provided context for the local review report below.
• The report of Audit Wales on its review of Development Control and Planning Enforcement at the Isle of Anglesey County Council.
• The organisational response to the recommendations of the review report by Audit Wales.

The report of Audit Wales was presented by Mr Euros Lake who advised that the national report highlights some of the challenges facing local planning authorities with regard to overstretched capacity and reducing resources that are having an impact on performance and resilience, and that these themes are replicated at local level. The review of the development control and planning service in Anglesey sought to assess how the Council is addressing these challenges within the service and whether it has an effective and resilient development control and planning enforcement service. Overall the review concluded that the Council has strengthened the capacity and culture of its planning service but needs greater resilience to overcome future uncertainty. The review found that –

Ø   The Council has well-established corporate arrangements to monitor and learn from past experiences and has invested in the planning service to address poor performance.

Ø   The Council has improved capacity and morale within the service but needs to develop and retain its workforce in order to maintain this progress.

Ø   Significant challenges risk undermining the service’s resilience in the medium and long-term.

The report makes four recommendations for further improving the service including improving the Council’s ability to mitigate and respond to risks, improving how it considers risks in resource planning, as well as building skills and experience within the planning service which will also help strengthen the Council’s business continuity arrangements and improve resilience. 

The Head of Regulation and Economic Development provided the service’s response to the report and he welcomed the review as timely in light of the historical and current pressures on the service. The challenges faced by Anglesey’s planning and enforcement service in relation to resources, capacity and workload are not dissimilar to those facing other planning authorities in Wales. Overall it is felt the report provides a positive evaluation of the progress being made by the planning service in Anglesey albeit that improvement journey has only begun and the service is aware that more work needs to be done. However, it is considered that the service now has robust management and leadership and has set clear priorities for the medium-term. The service accepts the recommendations of the Audit Wales review and an action plan has been agreed. The current service improvement plan will be reviewed to identify outstanding areas and priorities and a revised plan to address those areas will be produced. Work on the current plan is continuing following the disruption caused by the pandemic and although the onset of Covid led to the suspension of activity, the move to virtual working did accelerate the review of culture and practice within the service and in that respect was beneficial. Whilst the risks and concerns pertaining to the service are recorded in the wider service risk register, preparation of the improvement plan will include developing a planning specific service risk register which will be regularly updated and monitored. A skills audit will also be undertaken the output from which will feed into the service’s workforce development plan. In terms of resources, the financial situation is challenging and while the service would wish to strengthen capacity it must be realistic about what can be achieved within the resources available. The service will seek to ensure that its staff receive appropriate training and development provision mindful also of the importance of retaining the expertise and specialisms currently within the service.

The Committee in considering the report referred to Exhibit 2 which showed the Council’s performance against key national indicators in 2018/29 and noted that it would have been useful to have been able to see the planning service’s current performance set out in a similar way benchmarked against that of other planning authorities in Wales. Views were also expressed about the proportion of planning appeals allowed with a question being raised about the importance of local planning policies and the local context in appeal decisions.

Councillor Nicola Robert, Portfolio Member of Planning, Public Protection and Climate Change advised that planning appeals is a complex area but that personally as the Portfolio Holder she was satisfied with current numbers and that work is ongoing in terms of policy interpretation from the perspective of the local planning authority and the inspectorate. Every appeal allowed is reviewed by the service to establish any differences in interpretation. 

It was resolved to note the report of Audit Wales on its review of Development Control and Planning Enforcement at the Isle of Anglesey County Council along with the organisational response to the report.