This checklist suggests the potential questions that need to be considered to improve the capacity of planning departments. Use this checklist to help determine what sort of support or change is required and to think about the best way the private sector can be used to support service delivery.
Questions councillors might ask the planning service
Is external help required?
- How well is the planning department performing?
- Do we need to increase the support for our planning department?
- What are our options for doing so?
- Recruit more staff?
- Redesign our processes?
- Make better use of e-planning?
- Make better use of non-planning staff?
- Use the private sector to supplement capacity?
- How do we decide which solution is most appropriate?
- Have we anticipated how factors affecting internal capacity (training, maternity leave, etc) may impact on our ability to deliver a consistently good planning service?
Using the private sector
- Why do we need external support: to a) buy in skills not available in-house or b) enhance our capacity to undertake mainstream planning tasks?
- Are we aware of the need to tailor our procurement approach to reflect these different reasons?
- Have we considered using the private sector to provide expertise to support the development of the local development framework?
- Have we considered using the private sector to provide extra capacity to support development control processes?
- Are our procurement processes over-complex, prohibiting the use of the private sector for development control work?
- Do we know how other councils in our area use private sector support?
- What arrangements do we need to put in place to ensure that the benefits continue after the consultant's contract ends?
- Do we have a clear idea how much the planning services currently cost the council?
Questions councillors might ask themselves
- Does the council perceive the use of the private sector for planning - particularly around development control - as an opportunity or a threat?
- Are there political barriers to cross boundary working on planning and, if so, shouldn't the council be trying to reduce these?