North West planning depts awarded nearly £2m
The money comes from the first round of the government’s £29m Planning Skills Delivery Fund, dedicated to supporting skill development and tackling application backlogs.
Secretary of State Michael Gove gave a nod to the award winners during an announcement-laden speech on Tuesday afternoon, which included the reveal of the latest edition of the National Planning Policy Framework. He used the fund as an example of how the government is helping speed up the planning process.
The £14.9m first round of the Planning Skills Delivery Fund has been divvied up between 180 local authorities. In the North West, 20 will share a part of the prize, amounting to £1.9m.
Most of these councils, including Liverpool City Council and Cheshire East Council, are receiving money dedicated to reducing the planning application backlog. For others, such as Salford and Blackburn with Darwen, the funds are allocated for skill development.
The Lake District National Park, in a joint bid with Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council, claimed the highest award – receiving £300,000 for skills development. Most of the funds given hover around the £100,000 mark.
You can see a full list of North West councils that received awards below:
- Blackburn with Darwen = £100,000 for skills development
- Bolton Council = £73,526 for dealing with backlog applications
- Cheshire East= £100,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Cheshire West and Chester = 99,349 for dealing with backlog applications
- Fylde = £100,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Hyndburn = £100,000 for dealing with backlog applications and skills development
- Knowsley = £80,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Lake District National Park = £300,000 for skills development
- Liverpool City Council = £100,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Oldham = £50,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Ribble Valley = £50,000 for skills development
- Rossendale = £75,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Salford = £100,000 for skills development
- South Ribble = £20,000 for skills development
- Stockport = £99,570 for dealing with backlog applications and skills development
- Trafford = £97,902 for dealing with backlog applications
- Warrington = £97,600 for dealing with backlog applications
- Wigan = £82,732 for dealing with backlog applications
- Wirral = £100,000 for dealing with backlog applications
- Wyre = £28,327 for dealing with backlog applications
See the full list of councils receiving money from the Planning Skills Delivery Fund.
Amazing how much tax money ends up in London, and then if we are lucky, pound by pound, some is handed back. I suppose we should thank our masters for taking pity on us. The do not have to.
By Anonymous
Would be interesting to know how much each LPA actually bid for too.. and any reasons why they were not successful..
By Anonymous
Piece by piece, local authorities fall further under the yoke of Whitehall / Westminster, now forced to “bid” for funding for biog standard mainstream services like planning.
This country really is dysfunctional isn’t it.
By Anonymous
Planning departments should be properly funded from the outset, not forced to apply for funding to make ends meet. The planning system is so broken. Gove doesn’t have a clue!
By Anonymous
Surely a fair amount of Liverpool’s backlog is of their own making as they have such complicated criteria to adhere too and spend lengthy amounts of time discussing amending schemes with developers.
Look at the recent Carpenter application at Kings Dock St, submitted a year ago, told to lower the height and adjust other elements, and now the planning committee have still refused it.
By Anonymous