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Commendation For Bass Coast Planning ImprovementsThe achievements of Bass Coast Shire Council’s Statutory Planning team were recognised at this week’s Council meeting. Mayor, Cr Veronica Dowman formally presented the team with an MAV Commendation By Bass Coast - 20th April 2012 - Back to News certificate for improvements to planning processes.
"At the Planning Improvement Forum held by the MAV on 4 April 2012 our Statutory Planning Team received a Commendation as part of the MAV President’s Award for Process Improvement," explained Cr Dowman.
"In his speech, MAV President, Cr Bill McArthur, President said: "I would also like to make two commendations to the City of Banyule and the Bass Coast Shire who have both managed to halve the times in some of their pathways. To do so has required both knowledge and commitment and I would very much like to commend both councils on their achievements." This is a great achievement for our team and an acknowledgement of the work they have done to improve planning processes."
Planning and Environment Director, Hannah Duncan-Jones said the team started the MAV STEP Program in 2011.
"The program helps planning teams examine their strategic, statutory and enforcement planning services on a regular basis to make quality and efficiency breakthroughs," said Ms Duncan-Jones.
"Team members work with professional business analysts and other Councils to identify areas where their planning service can be improved. There is now considerable data available for analysis through the State Government Planning Permit Activity Reporting System and this enables every step of the permit process to be scrutinised. The commendation award recognises the work that our planners have done to improve the steps within the permit process and recognises the complexity of the permit applications that we receive.
"An analysis of permits processed from 1 Feb 2011 to 31 Jan 2012, showed a lot less variability in our permit assessment process with a significant reduction in the total number of processing days. This is important, as there is a legislative time frame of 60 days for assessing permit applications," explained Ms Duncan-Jones.
Ms Duncan-Jones said the team introduced a ‘triage’ system to help improve the way permits are processed.
"Some permit applications follow a ‘straight through’ pathway, which means all information necessary to assess the application has been submitted, there are no impacts on nearby residents and the views of other agencies are not required before a decision can be made. For these applications, the team have reduced the processing days by 22 per cent since July 2011. Where applications got through the ‘refer’ or ‘further information’ pathways our processes have been tightened.
"In 2010/11 the team achieved an overall increase of 3 per cent for applications processed within the statutory time frame, moving from 68 per cent to 71 per cent. This is almost 10 per cent above the State average. Our involvement in this program is aligned to Council’s values and reflects a commitment to take time out from the task to focus on results and see what can be improved," continued Ms Duncan-Jones.
"This is not always easy, as the Statutory Planning team field over 5,000 planning enquires per year, on top of processing over 700 permit applications. The result is a great example of how the team have worked together to ensure that our organisation is operating efficiently and delivering the best service to our customers."
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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