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Survey of planning websites in Scotland

SECTION 3 OVERVIEW OF E-PLANNING PERFORMANCE IN SCOTLAND - BREAKDOWN OF SURVEY RESULTS BY CRITERIA

3.1 Breakdown of Results by Criteria:

3.2 Ease of Access to the Planning webpage:

3.2.1 32 of the 34 local authority and National Park websites surveyed had planning/development control web pages that were easily accessible from the Council home page. Of these, 23 (72%) had a direct web link to the planning web pages from the authority's main homepage. The remaining 11 authorities had planning web pages that were accessible via an A-Z or key word search.

3.3 Online Application Register:

3.3.1 27 of the 34 websites surveyed allowed the user to access information about planning applications online - current and/or determined - in the form of an application register.

3.3.2 The information provided in the registers was generally basic: site address, applicant/agent details, and a brief description of the development and the application number. Some included whether the application was to be delegated or determined by committee. The information was either presented in a searchable database or published weekly lists in "PDF" or "Word" format.

3.3.3 Applications listed in the registers were generally groups by date. The period of time covered by the registers varied with Stirling providing a list of applications dating back to 1989 and Edinburgh back to 1998. 6 registers dated back between 1 and 3 years. The planning applications registers on the Aberdeen city, Aberdeenshire Angus Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Perth & Kinross, Shetland and West Dunbartonshire websites dated back to 2004 or late 2003. The application register on the Renfrewshire and Dumfries & Galloway websites included applications from the past month. Argyll & Bute, Dundee, East Ayrshire, Highland and North Lanarkshire had weekly lists of applications.

3.4 Viewing Electronic Application Drawings and/or Attachments

3.4.1 Of the 34 Scottish sites surveyed only 5 - Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh and Shetland - enabled the user to view documents/plans accompanying applications as part of their applications register.

3.5 Online Appeals Information

3.5.1 15 of the 34 authorities surveyed provided details of appeal lodged against the authority online: Stirling, Aberdeenshire, City of Edinburgh and Fife located the appeal information within the planning pages, the remaining 11 authorities presented appeal information within the committee minutes. Information located with in the planning committee minutes was generally harder to locate, particularly where no guidance was given on the planning page directing the user to their location.

3.6 Submission of Electronic Application Representations

3.6.1 At the time of the survey 15 of the 34 authorities enabled the user to submit electronic representations about planning applications, either via an email address or an online representation form. It should be noted that while some authorities accepted e-mailed representations, only those that made it clear that email was an acceptable way to submit comments were awarded a point for this criterion. The authorities awarded a point for this criterion were: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Argyll & Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Fife, North Lanarkshire, Perth & Kinross, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire and Stirling.

3.6.2 It was encouraging to note the facility to email representations about emerging local plans was available on a number of authority websites. This criterion was not a tested as part of the Pendleton Criteria, therefore it is not possible to provide a precise number of authorities.

3.7 Facility to Monitor Applications Online

3.7.1 Of the 34 authorities surveyed, 3 - Clackmannanshire, City of Edinburgh and Stirling - enabled the user to monitor the progress of a current application online by providing the updated status of the application from submission and validation through to consultation and determination:

3.8 Online Decision Registers

3.8.1 Of the 34 authority websites surveyed, 10 had a register or list of planning application decisions online: Argyll & Bute, Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire. East Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, Shetland, South Ayrshire and Stirling. The registers were in the form of a weekly decisions list, a dedicated decisions registers or a joint application and decisions register. The most usable joint application-decision registers were those that provided an option menu that enabled the user to filter and select the type of application they wished to search.

3.8.2 Basic application information was provided as part of the decision register - e.g. site address, applicant, reference number, brief description of proposal and whether the application was approved, refused, withdrawn or deferred.

3.8.3 The decisions registers were generally organised by date (most commonly by weekly list). The user is therefore required to know the date that the planning decision was issued in order to locate the details of a specific application. This can create problems for the user when searching planning histories for a property. The more advanced decision registers also enabled the user to search by street name and/or ward and/or application type, which enabled greater flexibility and ease of access for the user,

3.8.4 It was common for details of planning decisions - chiefly non-delegated decisions - to be listed within the planning committee minutes. Whilst it was helpful for the user to have access to this information, decisions listed within committee minutes were often not easy to locate as little or no guidance was given on the planning page advising the user that decisions lists were available within the committee section or how to access the information. The user is also required to know the date of decision in order to access the correct committee minutes. A point was only awarded for criteria 7 (online decisions registers) in cases where lists for both delegated and non-delegated decisions were given in all committee minutes and researchers considered the information was accessible from the perspective of the user.

Period of Time Covered by Decision Registers

3.8.5 The period of time covered by the decisions registers varied considerably - for example, East Ayrshire had the previous week's decisions, City of Edinburgh had decisions dating back to at least 1998 and Stirling to 1989. The register on the Argyll & Bute and East Dunbartonshire sites dated back to 2002 and 2001 respectively. The Clackmannanshire decisions register dated back to late 2003 and the South Ayrshire register to early 2003. These dates were correct at the time of testing.

3.9 Downloadable Statutory Decision Notices & Conditions/Reasons for Refusal

3.9.1 Of the 34 authorities surveyed, 3 - Clackmannanshire, East Lothian and City of Edinburgh - provided electronic copies of decision notices online.

3.10 Conditions/Reasons for Refusal

3.10.1 The 3 authorities with online decision notices - Clackmannanshire, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh - provided full lists of conditions for planning consents or reasons for refusal as part of the decision notice. Shetland did not provide a copy of the decision notice online, instead listing the conditions/reasons for refusal for delegated and non-delegated decisions as details within the decision/application register.

3.11 Downloadable Officer's Planning Application Reports

3.11.1 Of the 34 authorities surveyed 22 had downloadable copies of officer's planning reports for committee online.

3.11.2 Copies of officer's reports were generally located within the committee agendas or minutes for the last planning meeting and were available as far back as the committee minutes/agendas were dated. To locate an officer's report for a specific planning application the user was generally required to know the date that the application went to committee in order to locate it within the correct meeting records.

3.12 Downloadable Committee Schedules

3.12.1 All but 4 of the authority websites surveyed had schedules for forthcoming committee meetings, either in the form of a calendar or list. This information was generally presented as part of the council's general committee schedule in a separate section to planning. To be awarded a point for this criterion the schedule had to contain at a minimum the date and time of the next development control meeting, although most were in the form of a calendar listing all the planning meetings for the forthcoming months or the next year.

The majority of authorities with online committee schedules, minutes and offices reports did not have direct link from the planning page to the council's committee pages.

3.13 Online Committee Minutes

3.14.1 28 of the 34 authority websites surveyed enabled the user to download copies of committee minutes online. These were almost without exception located within the committee section of the webpage. Generally the committee minutes were arranged by date and did not enable the user to search via application address/number.

3.14 Online Planning Help Text/Guidance

3.14.1 26 of the websites had online advice text and guidance about the planning process. The most common advice given online related to the requirement for planning permission and on how planning decisions were made by local authorities.

3.14.2 Online advice varied in content and quality and was given in a range of formats. The most common types of planning guidance were text on the planning web pages (e.g. frequently answered questions) and downloadable leaflets and guidance notes. A number of sites had/also had links to external planning-related sites. A point was awarded to those with links only if the user was directed to the link to obtain planning guidance.

3.15 Online Application Services

3.17.1 At the time of testing East Lothian was the only Scottish authority website surveyed that enabled the user to submit applications for planning consent electronically, pay the statutory application fee online and attach drawings and documents to the online application.

3.16 Downloadable forms

3.17.1 Of the 34 Scottish authority websites surveyed 24 enabled the user to download standard planning application forms from the planning page or had a clear link directing the user to access the forms from an external planning website.

3.17 Online Development Plan Text

3.17.1 Of the 34 Scottish authority websites surveyed 24 had all of their local plan texts online, either draft or adopted versions. These were generally downloadable by chapter or topic. To be awarded a point for local plan text it was necessary for the online local plan to cover 80% or more of the population of the local authority administrative area. Fife, Perth & Kinross and West Dunbartonshire had more than one local plan covering their administrative area and provided some but not all of the local plan text online. In these cases a point could did not be awarded for the local plan criterion, although it is acknowledged that these authorities did provide a proportion of their local plan text online. This also applies to their local plan maps.

3.18 Online Proposals Map

3.18.1 Of the 34 websites surveyed 22 had online proposals maps. To be awarded a point for this criterion the local plan map had to cover at least 80% of the population of the administrative area. The Highlands authority, for example, had more than one local plan but only provided one map covering the West Ross area.

3.19 Interactive Policy Text and Proposals Map

3.21.1 Of the 34 websites surveyed 5 had a proposals map that was interactively linked to the policies contained in the local plan: Stirling, East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire, Dundee City and Aberdeen City. The interactive element was access by clicking on the map key or a specific area on the map itself, which linked to the specific policy text. This enables the user to look up a specific site, check any land/policy designations and go directly to the relevant policy.

3.20 Usability of Proposals Map

3.21.2 14 of the authority websites surveyed had proposals maps that enabled the user to locate and identify specific sites either via a postcode/street name search facility or by zooming to a greater scale on map to enable street names to be identified. The authorities with this facility were: Aberdeen City, Argyll & Bute, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney, South Ayrshire and Stirling.

PLANNING AUTHORITY WEBSITE RANKINGS 2004

2004 SCOTTISH LOCAL & NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY PLANNING WEBSITE RANKINGS

Local Authorities/ National Park Authorities meeting the same number of criteria have been given a joint ranking position and are listed alphabetically. Websites are ranked according to the number of PPA Planning criteria met at the time of testing. The scores are out of 21.

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