Had a long wait securing planning permission in Congleton?

A Knutsford councillor has called for an 'immediate review' of Cheshire East's planning systems, saying Covid is no longer a valid excuse for the backlog of applications.

Complaints against the planning department have risen by a third.

This is as live applications backlog across the borough - which includes Congleton - near 3,000.

Chief executive Lorraine O'Donnell told the LDRS last month that Cheshire East faced staff recruitment problems and a whopping 15 per cent increase in the number of planning applications  submitted.

Now Cllr Tony Dean (Con) has put an item on the agenda for Thursday's meeting of the environment and communities committee urging members to back his call for a review of the planning systems.

In a statement to go before the meeting, Cllr Dean said: "For some months now the majority of planning applications have been taking multiples of the time set out in our own SLA (service level agreement) for determination."

And he questioned whether other methods could be adopted.

"For example, can a triage system be introduced to fast track simple applications via one route whilst the more complex ones are dealt with as quickly as possible by other more experienced officers?" he said.

"The key is to review our systems as quickly as possible and introduce agreed changes to speed up the process using our existing and future resources as efficiently as possible.

"Covid is no longer a valid excuse for continued failure in this activity."

Figures released by Cheshire East reveal the increased demand has resulted in the number of live applications soaring to 2,876 at the end of September – more than double the normal level of 1,200.

Four or five external planning experts are being used to help clear the backlog and the council employed three new planning assistants who started in September and a senior planning officer who joined last month.

But recruitment is still an issue, with two planning officer vacancies still unfilled. There is also some long-term sickness in the department.

The matter will be discussed at Thursday's meeting of the environment and communities committee which takes place at 2pm at the council's Westfields HQ in Sandbach.

You can view current planning applications in Congleton here.

A search for 'Congleton' on this webpage generates 20,000 results, though, this does include roads named after our town in Alderley Edge And Macclesfield, and also contains archived or approved applications.

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