THE recent performance of East Hampshire District Council planners has rocketed them into the top 25 per cent of the countryÕs 361 planning authorities.
Head of development control Ian Ellis has released figures which show that in the quarter from July to September this year the council made 74 per cent of all planning decisions in eight weeks.
Not only, said Mr Ellis, did this place EHDC in the top 90 planning authorities nationally but it made East Hampshire the second best performer in Hampshire.
At the same time the government has published a table of councils which have improved their performance in the past three years and East Hampshire has been identified as the fourth most improved .
ÒThis is against the background of a 13 per cent increase in planning application workload since April 1,Ó said Mr Ellis.
He commented: ÒAll planning staff can be proud of their achievements this year which reflect their professionalism and commitment to providing the best possible service to all customers.
ÒAlthough speed of decision making is not necessarily the best way of judging a service, the government has placed great reliance on these statistics and it is very pleasing to see how well we now compare with other councils,Ó commented Mr Ellis.
The aim for EHDCÕs Planning Control Department, he added, was now to remain in the top 25 per cent of councils and to develop a service which met the challenges set in the governmentÕs recent green paper ÔPlanning: delivering fundamental change.Õ