Staffing issue raised at Cumberland Council planning department

The issue was highlighted during the time set aside for public participation at Tuesday’s meeting of the full council at Carlisle’s Civic Centre.

Mr Singer, the resident who is an experienced builder, was given the opportunity to quiz councillor Mark Fryer who is the leader of the council.

He said that he was very concerned, not just for himself but also residents within the council area, about the local authority where the need for governance and direction of future development is important to the success of the region.

The resident told Cllr Fryer that he has been in the building industry for more than 45 years as well as working in the planning departments of two councils for the best part of the 1980s.

He asked: "The planning departments of the council appear to be working in silos insofar as each of the former authorities has its own separate departments of development control, requiring the submission of applications to develop sites, alter existing buildings and decide on residents’ concerns, remain at that local level and in many instances the application of similar submissions require different application forms tailored to the former administrative district.

"I am also concerned that this is having a substantial impact on staff morale.

"I am also aware that there are almost 2200 houses stuck in planning approval system waiting to be released and to be constructed unfortunately due to the implications of nutrient neutrality regulations there is little chance of these being approved in the foreseeable future this would have a considerable impact on central government targets and the aims of the St Cuthberts Garden Village development unless the authority takes immediate action.

"Secondly, the building control section also appears to be working in silos all having strict criteria to submit applications, this raises all manner of confusion – one part of the authority will only accept applications via a specialist portal, others refuse to accept applications via this method nor do they have access to the same portal so architect drawings must be submitted by email and the differences in procedure go to minor detail.

"I believe that the head count of building control officers across the authority is less than half it once was. The building control function has a statutory duty under the Building Act 1984 to carry out specific inspection on building works and failure to do so may lead to contraventions of the regulations and a consequently non-compliance, dangerous buildings and shoddy workmanship.

"My first question, therefore, is are you content to oversee the organisation of Cumberland Council planning and building control departments as outlined above? Secondly, are there any plans to unify the functions of the departments?"

Cllr Fryer confirmed that they had lost staff to other organisations, including in the private sector, and added: "Because the grass is always greener.”

He said that some did return and issues within the council’s planning functions were linked to the need to harmonise the IT systems 'which are starting to come to fruition'.

Cllr Fryer said that work was continuing on the development of a single local plan for the council to replace the existing documents for the former Carlisle City, Allerdale and Copeland Councils. He added: "Please be reassured that we are continuing to support our staff."

Mr Singer said he was aware that a total of 11 planning officers had left the authority and there was a reliance on agency staff. He wondered whether the matter could be investigated further by the council’s scrutiny committees.

Cllr Fryer said he had taken on board his comments and added: "We find ourselves in the same position as other councils across the country."

He said they had to use agency staff because there was an need to provide a service to residents.