A threat to put the Hertsmere Planning Committee into special measures for a handful of historic appeal decisions has been removed, thanks to exceptional circumstances and the Council’s actions taken to improve performance.
In a letter from the Chief Planner, Joanna Averley, she stated that the Minister was satisfied with the progress Hertsmere had made and didn’t want to undermine it.
Said Cllr Nik Oakley, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Infrastructure and Transport: “I am grateful to officers for the very thorough case they made on our behalf, but I am quite clear that the Government will be ensuring that all local authorities will be expected to produce an effective and efficient planning service in order to deliver the homes and infrastructure needed.’
‘I am reassured that the Government wishes to support our ongoing performance improvement, but they will continue to monitor it.’
The Government sets a performance level for major appeal decisions and Hertsmere failed by just 1.4%. It covered the last year of the Conservative administration and the first year off the Partnership one. Effectively, local authorities can find themselves in trouble in they lose too many appeals.