Temporary suspension of planning services to stretch past six months

Some of the council’s planning services have been suspended until the end of August – almost six months after they were first stopped on a temporary basis.

The planning department will continue not to offer a free planning duty officer, or pre-application enquiries, until at least 23rd August.

Both services were first suspended at the end of February.

The SIC planning department said they currently had 45 applications which still needed to be allocated to an officer.

People were waiting up to eight weeks to be allocated an officer after having the application validated, the council said.

It said that the suspension would allow give planners “a better chance of success in continuing to tackle the backlog of planning applications”.

Poor connectivity, remote working, holiday absences and an increased workload have all been blamed for the suspension.

Councillors raised concerns in March about the number of vacancies within the SIC’s planning department.