Even if it continues to be difficult to keep casework going during the pandemic, Planning Inspectorate’s report shows advancement in several important areas over the past year.
Key accomplishments from 2021–2022 include:
The release of the new three-year Strategic Plan, the hiring of more than 50 new inspectors, and the training of apprentices
Our first environmental policy was adopted
Formalizing the process through which we ensure the quality of our decisions and reports by establishing our Customer Strategy to become more customer-focused
The creation of our digital public services
Enhancing data security enhancing inclusion, diversity, and equality
creating working groups for health and safety
The Inspectorate continued to perform hearings and enquiries utilizing a combination of virtual and in-person activities while also making decisions on more than 17,400 appeals, publishing 34 reports on Local Plans.
We made 8,971 decisions in our greatest area of work, planning appeals.
The number of new planning appeals lodged grew, returning to pre-pandemic levels, and was 4% higher than in 2020–21.
There were 38% more new planning appeal cases that needed to be heard by inquiry.
We have continued to put emphasis on planning for the nation’s infrastructure requirements in order to support economic recovery and offer communities certainty.
We promptly advised a Secretary of State on 12 applications for national infrastructure and offered counsel on 70 possible infrastructure projects.
We received 21,300 appeals in 2021/22, which is 6% more than in 2020/21 and very near to the pre-pandemic level, despite the fact that we are still operating at a reduced capacity due to COVID-19.
We decided more cases in 2021/22 than in 2020/21 as limits were loosened. We also increased the number of decisions we made.
This required managing lockdown procedures that affected both staff and customers, in addition to conducting virtual hearings and inquiries (which took longer than their in-person counterparts).
While certain judgments were made more quickly than in the past, overall, decisions last year took longer.
The nation’s economic recovery, however, was given priority, and cases involving national infrastructure proposals, local plan examinations, and appeals requiring a hearing or investigation received special attention.
We are making a lot of effort to decide more appeals so that we can regularly make decisions more quickly.
Our rolling Strategic Plan, which outlines the goals we will be delivering to realize our vision, was published in October 2021.
By involving, enabling, and educating our employees and implementing ambitious policy changes, we will “provide our clients with high quality, timely, and efficient services that promote the nation’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
After transferring our Wales-based team to the Welsh Government, we also witnessed the successful launch of the new Planning and Environmental Decisions Wales service.
Planning Inspectorate Chief Executive Sarah Richards stated:
“We kept casework flowing during the COVID-19 pandemic by using technology, properly preparing for the future, focusing resource management, and making sound decisions. Our appeals service’s decision-making process is now generally consistent and, in certain cases, faster. We have concentrated our efforts in the crucial economic areas.
She also emphasized the ongoing efforts to diversify and make the Inspectorate a more inclusive organization.
Planning Inspectorate Board Chair Trudi Elliott said:
“The pandemic’s second year has forced us to work hard. I am pleased with how the Board and employees of the Inspectorate have responded.
Additionally, I’m appreciative of our partners’ and stakeholders’ constructive participation as well as Ministers’ attention and support.
“We continued to be committed to enhancing the pace at which we decide cases and have reached new agreements with Ministers that better reflect the interests of our clients.”
As the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill moves through parliament, the work done to promote planning reform over the previous year has gained increasing attention and momentum.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities has set the Planning Inspectorate’s priorities, which include streamlining some infrastructure projects’ timelines and enhancing digital services. This work is weaved into those priorities.