Changes to the planning service
Over the last few years, the volume of planning applications received has increased significantly and the current workload at Enfield remains high. There are delays in the determination of planning applications, which we can appreciate is frustrating. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
We have started an improvement programme which will reduce the length of time you wait for a decision, and the number of cases each officer has in progress. You will therefore notice the following changes which are necessary for us to make the service better.
Case officers
When you submit an application for planning permission through the planning portal, you might not get assigned a case officer straight away. Officers currently have more planning applications than they are reasonably able to make a timely decision on. We are recruiting more officers as quickly as possible, and as soon as an officer has the capacity to deal with your application, it will be allocated to them and you will be notified.
Reducing determination times
Applications will be determined in the form in which they were validated. Therefore, the opportunity to request an extension of time or make amendments to applications will no longer be available, unless formal pre-application advice has first been sought for the same scheme.
Avoiding service delays
Where applications are submitted with insufficient information at the point of validation, this can cause service delays. In extreme cases, it has taken several months to receive the necessary information. We can no longer accept this way of working and we require you to submit all required information necessary on application. We will write to you where applications are submitted which require further information. We will clearly communicate what we need and set strict deadlines for you to submit this information.
You can help with our improvement work by only contacting us to provide information that we have requested from you. We strongly encourage you to use the online planning register to track any applications we are processing or comment on an application.