Planning and Best Value

Public bodies, including the County Council, must provide the services people want and also offer 'value for money' - a Government requirement called 'Best Value'.

They must tell residents how well they are achieving this through a 'Best Value Performance Plan' (BVPP) which is a public document that can be viewed elsewhere on this site.

As far as the planning service of the County Council is concerned there are a number of local and national indicators set out in the BVPP.

There are also a number of policy document which detail how the County Council's planning service will approach certain planning matters and what standard of service is to be expected.

The Enforcement Policy Statement sets out how the County Council deals the monitoring and enforcement of planning control over mineral and waste development.

The Development Control Planning Charter sets out the aims and objectives of the County Council in its determination of planning applications and in particular to ensure that a high standard of service is provided to all those who are involved in the development control process. The Planning Charter is currently being reviewed.  

The County Council has also introduced a procedure enabling people to address the Development Control and Regulatory Board about any planning application to be determined by the County Council. the guidelines on how this works is set out in a leaflet called 'Making Representations about Planning Applications'.