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Peter Pendleton Associates will undertake a survey of Scottish planning authority websites in early January 2006. The survey, on behalf of the Executive, will assess these websites against 21 criteria and the 2 Structure Plan Team websites against 11 criteria. The assessment is designed to appraise the availability of online development management and planning policy information. Clarified definitions of the criteria are available from the Pendleton Associates website www.pendleton-assoc.com
The cut-off date for amendments to planning authority web services to be included in the survey is 31 December 2005. Once the survey results are complete they will be placed on the Pendleton website and planning authorities are invited to validate their results online between the 16 and 27 January 2006.
Further information for planning authorities including an essential guide, FAQs and helpful tips and hints on maximising your Pendleton score are available on the Pendleton Associates website.
Background
The way in which the planning service is delivered is changing. New technology offers opportunities to increase the efficiency of the service and focus more closely on peoples' needs. The Getting Involved in Planning consultation emphasised the Executive's commitment to greater involvement in the planning system for all, and this has been carried forward in the White Paper Your Place, Your Plan. Access to development plans on the internet and the electronic submission, processing and tracking of planning applications will offer greater choice and allow people to get involved in a way and at a time that suits them.
Under the vision for 21st Century Government, all services which can feasibly be provided electronically should be available by 2005. A number of local authorities have been actively developing electronic access to their planning services. We need to build on this progress to spread the benefits more widely.
Local authority representatives meet periodically in the E-planning Group to discuss progress, resolve common problems and look ahead to software and service options. The group has met regularly since it formed in September 2001. Meetings have included demonstrations of Uniform Spatial, UKPlanning, the Planning Portal and OS MasterMap, Geowise, Landmark, Edinburgh's planning and building control portal and and the Northern Ireland Planning Service. The meetings help local authority planning service delivery champions to work together and gain from each others' practical experience of information technology, service delivery, and management and funding arrangements. Key concerns shared by the group include:
Data protection and copyright
online access to planning casework information
Interoperability of local authority IT systems
Website links
Development Plans on the internet
In 2003, informal targets specific to e-Planning services were agreed between the Scottish Executive and local authorities and published in the E-Planning Compact and Programme . Closer co-ordination of electronic planning services is on everyone's agenda .A Planning Advice Note on electronic planning service delivery -the e-PAN- has been prepared to help guide implementation and unlock some of the benefits of e-planning. It includes best practice drawn from the experience and expertise of the e-Planning Group.
The Scottish Executive Planning homepage provides a wide range of information on the planning system and updates on current casework. The website of the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit provides all the information and forms required to participate in the delegated appeals system.
Over 50,000 planning applications are made to Scotland 's planning authorities each year, and councils are increasingly looking to the internet as a way to provide round-the-clock information and service. For example, in Stirling casework progress can be tracked. In areas like East Lothian, Shetland and Clackmannanshire you can search for planning applications and view the plans online. These elements are combined in Edinburgh where an online planning and building control service began in 2003. Direct electronic submission of planning applications avoids councils having to scan incoming paper. East Lothian has now opened its doors to electronic submission and payment, and some other councils are close behind.
Until recently, planning law required procedures to be carried out 'in writing' or through paper copies. Most of these restrictions were removed by the Town and Country Planning (Electronic Communications) ( Scotland ) Order 2004. It is the first Order in Scotland to remove legal barriers to electronic communication, and is made under Section 8 of the Electronic Communications Act 2000 (a UK Act). The Order covers all the key parts of the planning system: the planning application and appeals processes, advertisement consent, minerals consent and development planning. There are exceptions where electronic communication would not be appropriate, either because electronic addresses would not be known or because failure in those areas results in criminal sanctions. Examples are neighbour notification and the service of enforcement and related orders. The Order enables rather than requires e-planning and actual progress will depend on local arrangements. Applicants with access to electronic systems are likely to make savings in the printing and distribution of documents. But the paper-based system stays in place and will continue as long as people want to use it.
As more authorities provide more planning information electronically, users have increasing expectations, and there is widespread support for the new services. There have been many favourable comments from the public and community groups on the internet accessibility of planning information in Edinburgh, and planning website monthly hits there have been increasing dramatically. Across Scotland , councils report their planning websites as their first or second most popular points of presence on the internet.
Several council e-planning initiatives are being carried forward as part of the Definitive National Addressing (DNA) project for Scotland and funded under the Modernising Government Fund . The core objective of the project is for every local authority in Scotland to create a corporate address gazetteer, joined together as a BS7666 compliant master address database. DNA Scotland also seeks to use this information on identified needs and priorities to improve services to the citizen, offering the effective prospect of relating land and property information in every part of Scotland . The Scottish Assessors Portal is a product of this initiative. The Executive's new Efficient Government Fund, which looks to unlock benefits of scale by joining up proven ways of working through partnerships, is also likely to be relevant to delivering planning services over the internet.
Through the e-Planning group, councils expect the Executive to take the lead in coordinating service strategy and removing barriers to meet the 2005 target. We are jointly examining the feasibility of bring forward electronic national application forms. Many citizens and businesses already use e-planning and building services and are helping to drive further improvements. Planning authorities and the Executive aim to work with them in a wide-ranging programme of service improvement to deliver planning information and transparent transactions locally on demand.
Contact: ben.train@scotland.gsi.gov.uk; liz.pringle@scotland.gsi.gov.uk