Winner:
Crawley Borough Council
Crawley's small planning team achieved exceptional results last year in overcoming an unprecedented and unique combination of challenges. Highlights include, despite the Water Neutrality constraint, adoption of a new Local Plan following the examination inspectors’ ringing endorsement of the country’s first Water Neutrality policy.
Under urgent time pressure, the team led the formulation of a technically robust, detailed response to the Gatwick Airport northern runway DCO by ten authorities. Concurrently, we overcame unique major Water Neutrality constraints to achieve the first major residential permissions since 2021 and significantly reduced the backlog of planning applications caused by COVID and Water Neutrality.
Judges citation:
Over the past two years, Crawley Borough Council’s Planning Team have dealt with a convergence of issues. The Local Plan was examined and adopted in October 2024 with England’s first water neutrality policy.
Clear development management procedures were established, leading to applicants securing water neutral development and planning permissions, despite the continued restrictions on the majority of the Borough.
The team also coordinated in-depth technical responses from ten Local Planning Authorities to the Gatwick Airport Development Consent Order application, including during the examination (February to August 2024). This, whilst also achieving notable reductions in the large backlog of live planning applications, resulting from Covid and Water Neutrality.
The Gatwick DCO proposed bringing the emergency runway into use with extensive development. The Secretary of State states that she is ‘minded to approve’ the Order but, for the first time ever, has recommended an alternative DCO with a greater range of controls than proposed by the applicant.
Crawley, working closely with other local authorities and interested parties, led a strong evidential case for greater environmental controls to ensure managed growth at the airport, in the event the DCO was consented. Key matters are still subject to further submissions, prior to a final decision.
Covid and the water neutrality created a significant backlog in live planning applications and considerable progress has been made in reducing this by one third from 424 to 285 due partly to achieving Government funding for a temporary post; retrofitting to address water neutrality, allowing the first major residential development to be permitted since 2021; and adding a workflow module to planning software to help prioritise officer tasks.
The judging panel acknowledges the intensity of work the team have been undertaking and particularly congratulate them on their positive work with other local authorities.
Commendation
Wealden District Council
Wealden District Council is a leading planning authority committed to excellence, demonstrated by its unwavering dedication to delivering outstanding planning services. The council embraces innovation through pioneering digital transformation with platforms like the Planning Hub and "Let's Talk Wealden".
They prioritise proactive stakeholder engagement, ensuring transparency and accessibility. Furthermore, Wealden exhibits a strong commitment to sustainability and climate action, integrating it into all planning processes and engaging the community through initiatives like Wealden's Big Climate Conversation. Their efforts in policy innovation and service improvements have garnered positive feedback, reflecting their impact in shaping a thriving district.
Judges' citation:
With a team of over 30 professionals, the achievements at Wealden include processing 3,397 planning applications with a 98% on-time determination rate and investigating over 533 enforcement cases has required strong team input.
The judges agreed that Wealden excels in public engagement with innovative fortnightly podcasts, videos, live streaming and making planning accessible to its rural communities, whether that is the determination of applications or the preparation of their Local Plan.
However, Wealden has also sought to get the basics right, including re-introducing the duty planner, delivering CPD training and focusing on staff retention. The success of these measures is evidenced in the strong testimonials from agents, developers and a local business.