Preston seeks to condense lengthy planning committee meetings

By broadening the scope of applications that can be determined under delegated powers, the city council hopes to make the determination process more efficient for all parties.

Preston City Council is planning to include Section 73 applications – tweaks to already-approved plans – in its scheme of delegation to avoid them having to be heard at committee.

This year, Preston’s planning meetings have routinely lasted more than three hours. The agenda of each meeting on average has contained two S73 applications.

By changing its own rules and allowing S73s to be determined by officers, the city council hopes to reduce the time burden of those involved in committee meetings.

On average, it takes six times longer to deal with applications that go before the planning committee than those determined under delegated powers.

Each planning committee meeting requires the presence of five council officers. Therefore, a three-hour meeting would amount to 15 hours of officer time for the meetings alone, notwithstanding the time it takes to prepare reports for each application beforehand.

The change in how Preston determines applications is not just for council staff. It is also intended to make life easier for stakeholders who come to meetings to contribute to the discussion around a specific application, who can often be left waiting hours before it is their turn to speak.

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