Overview of a successful 2006 - 2007

I have been delighted to lead the team through another extraordinary year, during which the Planning Portal exceeded all but one of its key performance indicators, including stretching targets for planning application take-up.

By March 2007, 13% (46,000) of planning applications made in England and Wales passed through the Portal, delivering efficiency benefits for applicants and planning authorities alike.

View further details and maps of 2006/2007 planning application figues here.

In the period April 2006 – March 2007 1.6m visitors downloaded more than 35m page views and our weekly e-newsletter attracted over 30,000 professional subscribers.

This success has consolidated the Planning Portal as the pre-eminent resource for planning information and services and our position at the heart of Communities’ commitment to deliver tangible and meaningful benefits to all users of the planning system.

During the same period the Portal team committed significant resources to the Standard National Planning Application Form project, delivered the Unauthorised Advertising and Fly-posting database and conducted more than 250 training sessions for local planning authorities and agents across the country.

Applying independent research carried out by KPMG on behalf of the e-Planning Programme to the take-up of planning applications on the Portal would indicate that potential benefits of around £11m were delivered to LPAs and applicants in 2006/07.

All good news I’m sure you’ll agree, but we are not a team to rest on our laurels. We have an extremely challenging year ahead and I have every faith that the Planning Portal team will once again meet it head on.

Chris Kendall

Director