1 August 2011
Dave Jolley looks at the implications of the government’s
public services white paper for the planning sector…
The White Paper on Open Public Services makes it abundantly clear
that the coalition government does not have an ideological
presumption over whether the private or public sector should run
services. The paper is unambiguous in its belief that high quality
value for money services can be provided by the public sector, the
voluntary and community sector, or the private sector.
Some local authorities have already chosen the
private sector path. For example Salford City Council and Breckland
District Council have already outsourced their planning services to
us through a competitive route in order to secure cost savings and
provide robust quality services.
By opening up planning services, the
government is recognising that there are number of ways in which
planning services can be delivered more cost effectively whilst
decentralising services to the lowest possible level including:
- Local communities producing neighbourhood
plans;
- Local authority planning teams competing to
provide cost effective planning in other regions;
- Mutual/Cooperatives etc providing not for
profit services;
- Approved private sector organisations
providing services such as the processing of planning applications
as an alternative to traditional provision by in-house local
authority teams.
In fact, the White Paper presents a major
opportunity for a range of service providers to deliver a range of
planning services such as:
- Processing planning applications whilst fully
engaging with members, the local community and other
stakeholders;
- Producing planning policy documents
consistent with core strategies;
- Working with local communities to support
them in achieving their aspirations;
- Providing cost effective and efficient
services;
- Promoting best practice;
- Investing in continuous improvement;
- Setting competitive planning fees;
- Drawing upon a highly qualified and
experienced staffing resource;
- Providing training workshops for local
authority members and officers to show how services can be
successfully devolved to others organisations.
Nevertheless, the key to the successful, open,
accountable delivery of planning services will be ensuring that
only approved providers of planning services are eligible to
undertake those services. A key feature of the new approach could
be the establishment of a robust and effective mechanism for
formally approving the providers of planning services. This could
involve the introduction of an ‘Approval Body’ which would operate
a robust process to review key features of a service provider e.g.
demonstration of expertise and experience, capacity, organisational
stability and standards of probity. The body would also operate a
renewal process for re-accreditation. In turn, the proposed service
provider would also have to be able to demonstrate there would be
no conflicts of interest and that the highest standards of probity
would be maintained.
There are a number of further options that
should be considered to ensure proper and robust accountability.
For example, the approved planning service provider would have the
authority to process the planning applications and set their own
planning fees, but only after a competitive tender process. Also,
having processed the planning application, the service provider
would report to the planning committee or planning authority’s
designated officers for the planning decision. Finally, in the era
of localism, local communities could even be delegated the
authority to make planning decisions and commission their own
service provider.
Alternative services providers, be they
community operators, mutuals, charitable trusts or private
companies, have much value to add in relation to the provision of
planning services. The key now is how far will the industry go?
Dave Jolley (dave.jolley@capita.co.uk) is
Director at Capita Symonds