Business and Corporate Plan 2003-2004
Communications and customer Services
We will continue to improve our communications with our customers and staff be it through electronic services, traditional paper, telephone or in the way that hearings and inquiries are conducted.
Electronic Services
The Inspectorate’s e-Business Strategy is designed to achieve
our e-Business vision, which is that:
“By the year 2005, all the Inspectorate’s services will be
capable of
electronic transaction on demand by the public, local authorities,
businesses and other Government agencies directly from their own
locations. This will include, by 2003, everyone working for the Inspectorate
having direct access to all the relevant, accurate, timely information,
to allow them to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently, through
a single workstation at any location, that will provide userfriendly access
to all Inspectorate systems and connections to all customers, both internal
and external.”
The first part of our Strategy is being achieved through the continuous
improvements to our web site, the Planning Portal and our new Planning
Casework Service which is currently under its final stages of development.
The Programme has been developed with the help of our partners, including
local planning authorities, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM),
the Welsh Assembly Government, the Royal Town Planning Institute, as well
as Planning Agents.
The Planning Portal
The Planning Portal, www.planningportal.gov.uk, went live in May 2002.
It provides a general advisory service linking the public, business and
other users of the planning system to a wide range of integrated planning
related information and services. It includes essential information and
guidance to the general public as well as professional users.The intention
is that over time all planning publications from ODPM, the Welsh Assembly
Government and Statutory Consultees will be available via the Portal
in a web-friendly format.
The Planning Portal is to be managed within the Inspectorate initially,
however, longer term it is our intention to transfer the operation and
management of the Planning Portal during 2004-2005.
The Planning Portal Team has been marketing the Portal to local planning
authorities since October 2002. Interest in the Portal has exceeded our
expectations. At the time of drafting this plan, 115 local authorities
had signed co-operation agreements with the Portal at different levels
of engagement ranging from linking their web sites and contacts data bases
to the Portal, publishing development plans, and using on line planning
applications service.
ODPM have agreed to increase their contribution to the Planning Portal’s
running costs from £1.112m agreed as part of the Spending Review
2002 to £2.27m. This will enable most local planning authorities
to take full advantage of the Portal’s services by:
- the Portal Team participating in and supporting wider planning initiatives
such as the Local Government Online National Planning Project; and - allowing
other data bases such as the National Land Use Database and
DEFRA’s Multi Agency Geographical Information for the Countryside
(MAGIC) to be accessible via the Portal.
Planning Casework System
The Planning Casework Service (PCS) will comprise an electronic planning
casework document handling and tracking facility. It will automate the
links between the Inspectorate and applicants/appellants, local planning
authorities, Government Offices, ODPM, the Welsh Assembly Government,
and other interested parties. It will provide direct access to the progress
and
decision stage of most of the 20,000 or so cases handled by the
Inspectorate each year.The service will be accessed via the Planning Portal.
The PCS will be used to provide a range of templates for appellants, local
planning authorities and third parties to use, including templates for
statements of case and third party representations. The service will be
rolled-out in stages in the late part of 2003-2004, subject to user assurance
testing and piloting. A paper-based system will continue to be available
for anyone who does not wish to use, or has no access to, the Internet
service.
Web Site
We will continue to make improvements to the range and extent of
information, forms and services made available through our web site As
part of this process we will seek suggestions from our users about what
additional services and information they would like and prioritise the
development work.We also intend to relaunch the Welsh Language version
of our web site. We will also be looking to increase the content of our
site to ensure that we comply with ODPM’s Freedom of Information
Publications Scheme. This will include publishing the general advice
provided to Inspectors.
IT Infrastructure
The second part of the e-Business Strategy focuses on improving our
internal systems, linking our systems together and ensuring that data is
only entered once.The PCS will lock into existing electronic systems.We
will continue our ongoing programme of IT replacement to ensure that
all our office and homebased
staff continue to have reliable, up to date and energy efficient equipment.
This will lead to increases in overall benefits of the e-Business Strategy,
improvements in communication and efficiency savings in staff time and
money.
We have an Information and Communication (“ICT”) Strategy
to underpin our e-Business Strategy.
During 2003-2004 we will:
- upgrade our IT infrastructure to enable us to notice the full benefits
of our
new Planning Casework Service.This includes replacing the PCs used by
Inspectors with note book computers and PC monitors with flat screens - investigate
ways of improving the speed of the IT links with Inspectors,
including the possibility of upgrading to Broadband - investigate ways
of allowing our self employed consultant Inspectors to
have access to the PCs and our Intranet.
