Business and Corporate Plan 2001-2002 to 2004-2005
Corporate Plan 2002-2003 to 2004-2005
The Corporate Plan looks ahead at the three years following the business plan year, as required by the Planning Inspectorate's Framework Document. It covers:
- Indicative financial resources.
- Projected workload.
- Taking forward new initiatives from our sponsor Departments and central Government.
The plan gives a three-year forward look as to likely developments but is subject to revision as new challenges emerge. Changes in the planning system or in the economy may have potentially far reaching effects on our workload and consequently on our resource requirements. Our vision is to be the prime source of impartial expertise for resolving disputes about the use of land, natural resources and the environment and we will seek opportunities to widen this area of expertise by taking on new areas of work where appropriate.
Resources
Details of the resource allocations for the period of this plan appear on the table below. The figures for 2004-2005 will emerge from the Spending Review 2002.
|
|
2001-2002 |
2002-2003 |
2003-2004 |
2004-2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Admin costs |
£35,400,000 |
£36,671,000 |
£38,096,000 |
Not yet known |
|
Capital |
£744,000 |
£744,000 |
£744,000 |
Not yet known |
|
Capital for Planning Portal project |
£2,000,000 |
|
Work forecasts
Planning appeals - England
The intake of planning appeals during the corporate plan years is forecast as follows:
- 2002-2003 - 15,590
- 2003-2004 - 15,410
- 2004-2005 - 15,240
The timeliness targets have yet to be decided by Ministers.
Planning appeals - Wales
Intake is expected to remain steady at about 700 appeals each year, around the same level as the forecast for 2001-2002. The timeliness targets have yet to be decided but are likely to match those in England.
Development Plans
DETR's target remains for 95% coverage of local authorities in England to have an adopted plan in place by March 2002, with 100% coverage being achieved in the longer term. As noted in the business plan section of this document, full coverage is not expected before 2004, on the basis of local authority forecasts. Plans must be reviewed regularly and kept up to date by local authorities, with Inspectors continuing to hold inquiries into alterations and reviews. In Wales all local planning authorities were required to have an adopted unitary development plan in place by the end of the year 2000. This was not achieved, but local authorities are encouraged to complete plans as expeditiously as possible and first coverage is likely to be achieved in the corporate plan period.
We will continue to hold regular surveys of local authority intentions, to ensure that sufficient numbers of trained and experienced Inspectors are available for this complex and demanding work, and to assign qualified Planning Assistants to provide support on professional tasks. On the basis of survey responses, we expect demand to be considerably higher than in recent years, with around 70 inquiries, including Examinations in Public, opening in 2002-2003, rising to 80 in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
Enforcement notice appeals - England
Intake for 2002-2003 is expected to be about 3,800 and increase to 3,900 in the following two years. The proposed internal handling targets for 2002-2003 are 32 weeks for written representations, 33 weeks for hearings and 43 weeks for inquiries. They will be reduced in the following year to 28, 30 and 40 weeks respectively.
Enforcement notice appeals - Wales
The anticipated intake is expected to remain steady at around 200 appeals in 2002-2003. The internal targets for handling enforcement appeals have yet to be agreed by the National Assembly.
Advertisement appeals
The number of appeals received is expected to remain at around 2,400 in England, and in Wales at around 100. However, the implementation of new regulations could lead to a possible increase in intake from 2002-2003 onwards. At this early stage, it is not possible to quantify any such likely increase.
Future Efficiency Savings
Whilst it has become increasingly difficult to meet our target of delivering 3% efficiency savings, we will make a concerted effort throughout the plan period. The measures already in place will carry on from the previous year. These include taking on additional work without additional staff, using resources more efficiently and effectively, reviewing existing procedures and realising the benefits from the computerisation of manual processes. We will ask Directors to take a closer look at their individual Business Plans and identify how they will achieve further efficiency savings in the future.
e-Business Strategy
The e-Business Strategy is designed to ensure that by 2005 all the Planning Inspectorate's services have the capability to be transacted electronically on demand by the public, local authorities, businesses and other Government agencies, directly from their own locations. As outlined in the Business Plan (page 13) this Strategy is based on two major infrastructure projects, the Planning Portal and the Casework Handling System. Further development of these two projects will continue through the corporate plan years, 2002-2003 to 2004-2005. Throughout the forthcoming period of modernisation, the Inspectorate will ensure that a paper-based service will continue to be available for those people who prefer not to use the electronic service.
As an essential support to these two Projects, we will continue with the programme of providing links to home-based Inspectors so that all information can be transmitted electronically, leading to improvements in communication and efficiency savings in staff time and money. An ongoing programme of IT replacement will ensure that all our office staff have reliable, up to date and energy efficient equipment.
DETR Ten-Year Transport Plan
DETR's ten-year transport investment plan represents an extensive package of proposals for improving the transport network, with large-scale investment in trunk road and bypass schemes. The integrated package also envisages an increase in the number of light rail schemes. There is also likely to be a rise in the number of road schemes sponsored by local authorities. This will doubtless involve additional demands upon our resources, although at this stage there is little information available to help us draw up an exhaustive list of proposals that are likely to require public inquiries.
