Delays on planning applications being determined in Dumfries and Galloway are getting worse

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Delays on planning applications being determined in Dumfries and Galloway are getting worse – despite extra efforts to improve the situation.

Developments big and small, ranging from dozens of new houses to a simple home extension, must be approved by the council’s planning department.

This involves submitting a planning application, paying a fee (which starts at £600 for one house being built), and then the submitted proposals going through a process of investigation involving other departments such as roads and flood risk management.

Council planning officers can make decisions under their delegated powers in some instances, but other cases may have to be brought to the planning committee for councillors to make the final decision.

The council’s target determination period for planning applications being approved or rejected has been 12 weeks for several years now.

The planning department has failed to meet that target for the past three years, and steps were being taken to try and improve the service to the public.

However, a report due to be tabled at the council’s economy and resources committee next week provided poor performance figures for April 2024-September 2024.

It reads: “The average determination period for local applications of 15.67 weeks was slower than the 12.00 week target.

“It is recognised that this is the area of particular pressure currently and was one of the main areas of focus of the development management review.

“Ironically, although temporary agency contractors have helped clear some of the backlog of applications, the determination of these older legacy cases has resulted in the average determination period getting worse.

“This will continue to be the case until the backlog has been cleared and it is mainly more recent cases which are being determined.”

Time starts when a valid application – completed forms with fee and all necessary plans – is received by the council and finishes on the date when the decision noticed is issued.

Earlier this year, an extremely lengthy case resulted in a complaint being made to the local authority.

A Castle Douglas man waited more than two years for a decision on whether or not he could build a new house on land he owned in Dalbeattie.

And Billy Gibson and his wife were then left gutted when Dumfries and Galloway Council’s planning department rejected their proposals after the lengthy delay.

David Kerr, of agents HK Thorburn & Son, representing the couple, complained about the wait of more than two years before a decision was made.

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