Derbyshire County Council welcomes £100,000 funding boost to ease planning backlog

Derbyshire County Council’s environment chief has welcomed a £100,000 Government funding boost to help with the authority’s backlog of planning applications.

Cllr Carolyn Renwick, Cabinet member for Infrastructure and Environment, said she was delighted with the council’s successful bid for the grant funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Planning Skills Delivery Funding Stream.

She told a recent cabinet meeting: “We were invited to apply for £100,000 and I am delighted to say we were successful in getting the full amount.”

The Government invited councils to bid for funding after it announced that it is providing £24 million to local authorities over a two-year period to help
clear the backlog of planning applications and prepare for the
implementation of proposed planning reforms.

A new Levelling Up department programme aims to provide direct support to local authorities to tackle issues such as attracting more new planners into Local Government, upskilling existing planners, and further developing a future pipeline into the profession.

The council’s Assistant Director of Regulatory Services submitted a bid to deal with the backlog of minerals and waste applications because the vast majority of its undetermined planning applications have been for very large scale, complex applications particularly for mineral developments.

Extra funding will help engage two senior and experienced agency workers for a further six months to help deal with processing the backlog.

Cllr Renwick said the funding is ‘very much welcomed’ and it will help ease the backlog of applications.

The council formally approved acceptance of the £100,000 grant during a cabinet meeting on February 22.