(Draft Report) Data Exploration Actionable insights from data collected for Benchmarking DRAFT

Introduction  Data collected and analysed to support PAS Benchmarking  Analysis objectives 1. Explore insights from the performance data that will aid DM managers provide more effective services 2. Extend the analysis to learn more about the relationships between cost, performance and LPA size DRAFT

Data  Benchmark data  Results are from April 2011 to Sept 2013  206k records from 62 councils  Other data:  CLG performance tables supplied from CLG  Planning Portal take up rates, supplied from the Planning Portal DRAFT

Key For benchmarking purposes, PAS created a new set of definitions (called ‘R’ codes) for different application types so that they could be grouped together more easily. This presentation uses the benchmark definitions which are explained below: 1.Major non-residential = major major non-residential, major non-residential 2.All Dwellings = major major dwellings, major dwellings, up to 9 dwellings 3.Minor non-residential= non-residential minor development 4.Householders = Domestic householder applications 5.Heritage = Listed buildings, conservation area applications 6.Waste = Waste 7.Minerals = Minerals 8.Others = includes Gypsy & Trav; Change of use, Adverts, Infrastructure, Certificates, Tree work, EIA, sched. 2 9.Conditions = conditions discharged DRAFT

Decision speed DRAFT

Target dates drives behaviours Majority of applications are determined in the days immediately prior to the 8/13 week deadline Refusals are almost always in the last few days (presumably because negotiating time runs out) Clear evidence that the target is influencing behaviours DRAFT

Cumulative Planning delay by R category Planning delay is the combination of the number of applications and processing time. Conditions account for 8.16% of days that applications are within the planning system. Householders spend the greatest cumulative time within the planning system. DRAFT

Cumulative impact of Planning delay - detail Householder applications spend 3.2m days within the planning system. This is a combination of the number of applications and processing time (many applications with relatively short processing time). But Major non residential applications spend relatively few days in the system in total (lower volume offsets longer duration). Where is the greatest impact on the local economy? DRAFT

Economies of scale exist for large applications.. but not small ones Larger authorities have the skills and resource to deal better with large applications (a clear economy of scale)… … but management takes its eye off the ball for the small stuff leading to performance dropping DRAFT

Committee Impact

Committee decisions delay Major no residential applications but few others Majority of committee decisions are for Major Non Residential developments. Decisions after the 13 week deadline are disproportionally likely to be made via the committee route. Conditions add up to 170 days to the customer journey

Committee and officer’s decisions are very similar Committees are more likely to approve All Dwelling applications than officers, but more likely to refuse Householder and All Other applications DRAFT

Committee are more likely to grant an application that officers recommend for refusal When officers recommend approval, Committees overturn 6.6% of decisions but if the officer recommends refusal, members overturn 23.2% of applications. DRAFT

Delegation rates and performance Increased delegation rates has a (statistically significant) impact on improved performance. DRAFT

Validity DRAFT

Almost half of all applications are invalid 45.6% of all applications are invalid. The problem is worse for All dwellings and best for All Others. DRAFT

Some councils have far more valid applications than others Some councils achieve over 90% validity and others less than 10%. What are the differences in practice and standards between these authorities? DRAFT

Invalidity can add 3 weeks or more to customer journey times Greatest amount of customer journey time is added to Major non residential and All Dwellings DRAFT

Invalid applications are more likely to be refused Invalid applications tend to poorer quality throughout and are more likely to be refused, especially for All dwelling and All Other applications DRAFT

Applications received at the weekend are substantially less likely to be valid Applications submitted at the weekend will be almost exclusively via the portal, weekday applications will be a mixture of portal and paper based. DRAFT

Applications with an EIA are more likely to be valid EIA applications are more likely to be valid, notably for All dwellings and All Others (EIA is not applicable for Heritage & Conditions) DRAFT

Cyclical impacts DRAFT

10% more applications arrive on a Monday than a Friday 10% more resource is needed to process new applications on Mondays than Fridays. This will impact flow of work and speed of processing. ‘Monday effect’ is greatest for Householders. Weekend submissions are negligible indicating no demand for out of hours submission service. DRAFT

Less decisions get made on Mondays All categories of applications suffer from a drop in decision rate on Mondays. What problem with the flow of work in the office causes this? (Perhaps staff are processing the new high volume of applications that arrive on Mondays?) Data excludes committee decisions DRAFT

Fees DRAFT

Applications by volume… Householder applications make up 30.5% of all applications and Minor Non Residential are 13.5% but…. DRAFT

…Applications by fee … Householders are only 13.1% of fee income and Minor non residential are 17.2% DRAFT

Budget planning should reflect the differences in volume and average fee per application over the year By volume of application (bar) December is quietest month but the average fee in December is the largest (line). Hence 9.3% of all income is received in December. March sees greatest number of applications (bar) and they are high value (line) resulting in 11.4% of all income Bars show percentage of total applications (left axis) Line shows average fee per application (right axis) Text shows percentage of total fee income per month DRAFT

Changes to demand DRAFT

Percentage change in volume of applications: Majors - Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Data from statutory returns shows highly patchy nature of demand changes. Some authorities are seeing substantial increases or decreases in volume of Majors. South West and West Midlands are seeing the most consistent increase. DRAFT

Percentage change in volume of applications: Minors - Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Volumes of Minors are largely declining, with a few isolated exceptions DRAFT

Percentage change in volume of applications: Others - Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Volumes of Others have largely declined, with a few isolated exceptions DRAFT

Percentage change in volume of applications: Others - Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Volumes of Others have largely declined, with a few isolated exceptions DRAFT

Percentage change in fee income: Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Fee income has radically changed in some areas, largely following the changes in Majors. The impact is far from even leaving some authorities less able to meet costs from fees than others. DRAFT

Percentage change in fee income: Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Fee income has radically changed in some areas, largely following the changes in Majors. The impact is far from even leaving some authorities less able to meet costs from fees than others. DRAFT

Percentage change in performance: Year to Mar 12 vs. Year to Jun 13 Some authorities are seeing substantial changes in performance, typically in similar ways across all three categories suggesting some are finding circumstances more challenging than others. DRAFT

Staff costs per hour Unsurprisingly, hourly rates are greatest in the South. DRAFT

Conclusions  Total number of days within the planning system is greatest for householder applications. It is likely that speeding small applications will do most for the construction industry.  The target regime continues to drive behaviours  Economies of scale can exist but only with diligent management  Committees are more likely to say yes to applications that officers would say no to  Invalidity is a major problem:  More so in some councils than others  Especially for portal applications  Can add 40% to customer journey time as well as additional processing costs  Volumes of work matter, but so does the flow of work including weekly cycles  Fees and application volumes don’t align  Budget planning should accommodate an annual cyclical flux in fee income  Fee income and demand are changing in different ways in different areas requiring appropriate responses. DRAFT