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RESOLVED
– That Cabinet approved
the implementation of a chargeable pre-application advice service,
in accordance with the charging schedule attached at appendix 1 to
the report and the draft service standards at appendix 2 to the
report
 
REASONS FOR DECISION – The charge will provide an income stream to support
proposals for additional resources within the Planning Service and
will reduce reliance on the general fund to subsidise the cost of
delivering pre-application advice. This will give customers greater
clarity about the depth of advice they will receive and the
timeframes that their items will be responded to.
 
OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED
- The option of not charging for advice
and/or not to introduce a more structured service with clear
expectations on and for customers was considered but rejected. The
charge represents an opportunity for the Service to become more
financially resilient and facilitate the shift in time and
resources to the pre-application stage, in conjunction with a much
shorter turn around time for formal
applications.
 
Please note
that this was not a Key Decision and so can be implemented with
immediate effect by officers.