27 October 2003

Pendleton Review of Local Authority Planning Websites 2003 - Winner or Sinner?

By Martin Howell, Leader of Stream 3: Technical Infrastructure, PARSOL

The results of a review of local authorities' planning websites have been published on the PARSOL National Project website www.parsol.gov.uk. It reveals strong evidence that many councils have a long way to go if they are to meet the Government's 2005 target and need to actively engage in the provision of these services as soon as possible. It is the aim of PARSOL to help local authorities to achieve this.

The review of the planning pages of all 371 local authority websites in England and Wales, provides local authorities with an objective external assessment of the failings of their website strategy, and indicates areas of concern where they need to give priority to the development of online services.

The survey was based on an evaluation of 21 criteria ranging from the accessibility of planning pages from the Council's home page to the ability to submit applications online. The criteria were chosen to reflect the needs of planning consultants, architects, surveyors and the wider community as a whole.

	·	306 authorities (82%) failed to meet at least half the PPA criteria and 74 (20%) authorities met 3 or less.
	·	Only 17% (63) of councils provided the ability to submit comments on applications online.
	·	A mere 32 councils (9%) enabled the user to monitor the progress of an application electronically with only 11 councils providing the ability to submit applications online.
	·	While 39% of councils provided online decision registers, only 13 councils provided the ability to view decision notices.
	·	None of the local authorities in the North East, West Midlands, Yorkshire & the Humber or Wales make application documents and plans available online or include decision notices as part of their decision registers and of these, only the North East provides appeal detail.
	·	The "top" local authority planning websites in terms of meeting the criteria were: Wandsworth (met 20 criteria), Huntingdon (17), Camden (14), Rushcliffe (14) and Wealden (14).

The PARSOL project will enable local authorities to deliver the services they need to provide to meet the 2005 requirements through the provision of demonstrator software and a range of toolkits and standards.

PARSOL (Planning and Regulatory Services Online) is a Local e-Government National Project. The project is a collaboration of over 40 different agencies from local authorities to national organisations all working together to help implement the delivery of e-planning and regulatory services nation-wide. The project is funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of the Government's strategy for the delivery of e-local government.

To download the Pendleton report for free and for further information about the PARSOL project including contact details for the Planning, Environmental Health, Building Control, Trading Standards and Regulatory Licencing project streams, go to the PARSOL website at www.parsol.gov.uk.