Reigate and Banstead Borough Council s1

BEST VALUE REVIEW OF PLANNING SERVICES Annex 1 MONITORING OF PROGRESS AGAINST IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Implementation of Improvement Plan

NOTES: Arrangements have been made for all tasks to be progressed on time by means of meeting and task bookings in GroupWise calendars. The estimated number of days required for each task is recorded in days in the “Action & Detailed Tasks” column and represents an estimate of the total time to be spent by all officers involved.

Action & Detailed Tasks (days Outcome Lead Officer Who else will Time scale Priority Progress Date last required) be involved (by end of) updated Improving Customer Service 1. Improve public contact arrangements; by: Arranging customer care training for Increased public and Mark Janet Males, June 2003 High Customer 07.11.03 all existing staff and new staff as councillor satisfaction with Harbottle Sue Belcher care part of their induction (2) response to telephone induction calls notes drafted for discussion at BDSMT on 18.11.03 Recruiting 3 additional posts within Posts in place Mark Guy Davies, Posts High Interviews to 28.10.03 area planning teams to handle calls Harbottle DC recruited to be held on received from customers and co-ordinator, by end of 6th & 7th process data, using enhanced Mari Roberts October November systems (see items 20 – 22 below) (3) Ensuring that telephone calls can be Performance target met Mark Guy Davies, June 2003 High Completed 12.05.03 answered by people capable of Harbottle All DC DC phone handling service-related calls within planners & rota the target times set by the Council technicians expanded at (1) peak times Advising the public (via charters Information issued on Mark Gerry McPhail May 2003 High Completed 06.06.03 etc.) about optimum times for timing of telephone calls Harbottle Guy Davies Charters in making calls (2) Dee Woods, Helpshops Ashlea Whiting

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Action & Detailed Tasks (days Outcome Lead Officer Who else will Time scale Priority Progress Date last required) be involved (by end of) updated Minimising dependence on Voice Effective us of voicemail Mark Guy Davies, April 2003 High Completed 27.05.03 Mail by giving callers options to Harbottle All DC Standard speak to other staff (1) planners & voicemail technicians message does this 2. Monitoring arrangements to be put Regular review of progress Mark Gerry McPhail July 2003 High GD discuss 07.11.03 in place and regular reports and action taken to rectify Harbottle Guy Davies onwards ing mystery considered by service unit’s issues Dee Woods, shopping management team every three Sue Belcher with Mole months (5) Valley DC. Plan to be ready by 08.12.03 ready for implementation in the New Year 3. Better information to assist those Revised leaflets produced Mark Gerry McPhail May Medium Complete 09.06.03 requiring the services and made available in Help Harbottle Guy Davies 4 Revised Revise user friendly guides on Shops and reception areas Dee Woods DC guides submitting planning & building Roy Judge, in printing, control applications (4) Ruth 3 BC guides Bellingham, in printing Ashlea Whiting 4. Clear information on the service Leaflets (including aims & Gerry McPhail All BDS staff, May High Completed 06.06.03 provided; targets for each service) Guy Davies Fionnula Charters in Produce Service Charters for produced and made Dee Woods Russell, Helpshops Building Control, Development available in Help Shops Ashlea Control, Enforcement & Monitoring and reception areas Whiting, Ruth and Trees, Landscape & Heritage Bellingham

Action & Detailed Tasks (days Outcome Lead Officer Who else will Time scale Priority Progress Date last required) be involved (by end of) updated (3) 5. Enable Help Shop/Advice Centre CAPS Uniform system Kenton Mark May 2003 High Completed staff to deal with more enquiries upgrade to include fields to Reader Harbottle, Training of 17.06.03 from the public permit tracking of key Guy Davies, temp staff, Increase the capacity of CAPS stages in progress of Ruth TSU, Uniform system to enable Help application. Bellingham Planners, Shop/Advice Centre staff to answer Customer service staff can North Central Tree team, public enquiries (5) immediately advise public & South and Advice of current state on cases Teams, Centre Case officers & others can Kenton complete. monitor progress and Reader, better prioritise work Shop/Advice Centre staff

6. Produce “user friendly” summaries of existing key policy documents: (3) Local Plan Leaflets produced and David Powell Fionnula February High Completed 12.05.03 made available in Help Russell, 2003 Shops and reception areas Ashlea Whiting Supplementary Planning Guidance Leaflets produced and Tony Walker Fionnula June 2003 High Completed 16.07.03 made available in Help Russell, All SPG Shops and reception areas Ashlea summaries Whiting, Mike on web site Salmon, Leaflet in Joanne Help shop Capper 9. Improve public interface with Planning Committee;

Signage for public to Committee Signs in Town Hall along Peter Flynn Martyn March 2003 High Completed 12.05.03 meetings (1) route from entrance to Thomason meeting room Improved design & layout of User friendly committee Tom Crowley Cllr Miller, Report by High Completed 23.07.03 committee agenda & report (5) papers adopted (to arrange Mark end July Format Member/ Harbottle, 2003 trialled at Officer Task Guy Davies, June Group) Chris Cook Planning Committee to be retained with minor (alteration) from July 03

Public speaking rights at Planning Task Group makes Tom Crowley Cllr Mrs Report by High Report 28.10.03 Committee (Links to items 19 and recommendations (to arrange Spiers, Cllr end July considered 20 (10) regarding public speaking Member/ Kaythe, Cllr 2003 by a special at Committee Officer Task Miller, Cllr meeting of Group) Pay, Mark Planning Harbottle, Committee Guy Davies, on 15.10.03 Chris Cook and Executive on 23.10.03. Consultation exercise being arranged.

Complete programmed Public are better able to Margaret Paul Leppard Feb. 2004 Low Scheme 28.10.03 improvements in design and layout see, hear and understand Quine approved. of Council Chamber (normal venue proceedings of Council Works for planning Committee) (5 – meetings commenced excludes contractors’ time) 01.08.03 Chamber will be back in use for Council meeting of 19.02.04

14 Hold regular meetings for main . stakeholders: Agents and regular applicants (3) Regular Forums Guy Davies Hamish Programme Medium Completed 12.05.03 & Tony Watson, Julia in place by first to be Walker Dawe, Darren end March held by 14th Williams May 2003 Scheduled for: 10/07/03 10/09/03 27/11/03 Residents Associations (3) Regular Forums Guy Davies Hamish Programme High Prgoramme 05.11.03 & Robert Watson, Julia adopted of dates to Cottrill Dawe, Darren Sept 2003 be put into Williams the next RA Forum to be held 27.11.03 Builders and other existing & Regular Forums Gerry Chris Programme Medium Completed 15.07.03 potential users of Building Control McPhail Anderson, adopted by Programme service (3) Roy Judge, end May adopted, 1st Angela Neal 2003 meeting held 03.07.03 18 Identify medium term targets for Achievement of targets for Mark Targets Medium Completed 27.05.03 . improved customer satisfaction increased satisfaction by Harbottle & identified by Targets  BV 111 targets for 2003/4 and stakeholders (measured in Guy Davies end May agreed 2007/8 surveys) and by 2003 15.05.03  Complaints complainants on the handling of complaints (2)

Improving policy & performance 19 Improve corporate input into . service aims, priorities and plans Corporate guidance and framework Improved linkage between John Kistner Other July 2003 Medium Completed 15.08.03 for 2004/5 service plans (3) corporate and service Business Final report aims Solutions staff issued 01.08.03 Update Service Plans on next Improved linkage between Mark Gerry McPhail Sept. 2003 Medium Completed 24.09.03 review to ensure conformity with corporate and service Harbottle & Guy Davies Corporate emerging Corporate and Community aims Robert Cottrill Dee Woods template Plan priorities (3) Brian Betts adopted. Tony Walker Ensure Planning Service (including Greater contribution by Mark Gerry McPhail Immediate Medium Completed 01.07.03 Building Control) input into Planning Services (BDS Harbottle & Guy Davies developing Corporate and and Policy &CI) into David Dee Woods Community Plans (2) Council’s corporate Powell/Robert Brian Betts Objectives and plans Cottrill Tony Walker 23 Review existing planning policies Councillors, officers, Robert Cottrill Tom Crowley, Programme High Key officers 10.11.03 . to ensure relevance to current applicants and public have Hamish for reviews met in July, needs; Undertake Policy Review shared understanding of Watson, in place by Residents with stakeholders focussing on policy priorities, particularly Darren September Association areas where applications deferred in respect of development Williams, Julia 2003 meetings or officer recommendations & planning applications Dawe held. overturned. (Link to update of Local Seminars for Plan, SPGs, Development agents and Framework) (15) Members to be arranged. Results to inform a review of LDF to commence D:\Docs\2018-04-11\0d726b9077fecddc5526fc0ef74b8631.doc Page 7 of 17 Updated on 07/05/2018 BEST VALUE REVIEW OF PLANNING SERVICES Annex 1 MONITORING OF PROGRESS AGAINST IMPROVEMENT PLAN

early 2004. 24 Develop Enforcement Strategy Pro-active Enforcement Dee Woods Peter Flynn, June 2003 High Completed 28.10.03 . (10) Strategy, based on existing Mark New time Executive resources (expanded Harbottle, Cllr scale set at agreed January 2003), which Kay, Cllr Oct 2003 strategy for informs service charter Miller, Cllr public (see item 2) Buttery consultation 23.10.03 Report to Planning Mark Dee Woods, Oct 2003 High Completed 28.10.03 Committee recommending Harbottle Cllr Kay, Cllr Report adoption of Enforcement Miller, Chris considered Concordat Cook by Planning Committee 08.10.03 and Executive 23.10.03 26 Produce Technical/Procedural Ready source of reference Guy Davies DC planners September High Procedure 10.11.03 . Manual for Development Control for new staff. Greater 2003 manual officers (20) consistency in approach completed, among all staff practice manual in draft format. Estimated completion date end of November. 27 Better cross functional working . 14.1 Develop team approach to All officers with an interest Mark Gerry McPhail Proposals to High Completed 08.09.03 case work, by making arrangements in a case (inc. front of Harbottle & Guy Davies promote this Format of for early involvement of officers from house staff) feel involved Robert Cottrill Dee Woods to be major site BC, P&CI, Conservation Officer, in progressing applications produced by agenda Environmental Health, Legal etc. on etc. October amended.

key cases (2) 2003

14.2 Holding regular reviews of key Officers at sharp end Guy Davies Hamish Proposals to High Section 10.11.03 cases involving relevant specialists (Enforcement, Building Watson, Julia promote this heads + line to learn from experience (3) Control, Help Shops) can Dawe, Darren to be managers to feed back to those Williams produced by brainstorm advising on plans, policies October approach to and planning applications 2003 obtaining feedback on DC cases from BC, Enf & Help Shops.

14.3 Establishing cross-functional Officers at sharp end Guy Davies Ruth Proposals to High Section 10.11.03 project teams to progress projects (Enforcement, Building Bellingham promote this heads + line (including relevant tasks in this Control, Help Shops) can to be managers to Improvement Plan) (1) feed back to those produced by brainstorm advising on plans, policies October approach to and planning applications 2003 obtaining feedback on DC cases from BC, Enf & Help Shops.

31 Review and prioritise managers & Managers/supervisors able Tom Crowley Mark Review of High Since BVIP 24.09.03 . supervisors roles & to undertake strategic roles Harbottle & roles & approved responsibilities to reduce without being drawn into Robert Cottrill priorities corporate conflicting pressures on their time detailed completed change (2) technical/professional by end of programme matters September was initiated D:\Docs\2018-04-11\0d726b9077fecddc5526fc0ef74b8631.doc Page 9 of 17 Updated on 07/05/2018 BEST VALUE REVIEW OF PLANNING SERVICES Annex 1 MONITORING OF PROGRESS AGAINST IMPROVEMENT PLAN

2003 it will include preparation of new mgt dev framework, performance mgt etc. This task subsumed within wider programme. 32 Maintain and further develop ODPM targets for speed of Guy Davies Hamish Achieved Low Completed 12.05.03 . Tasks in Development Control processing all classes of Watson, Julia by March Action Plan, including current planning applications met Dawe, Darren 2004 progress towards targets for in 2003/4 Williams performance (6) Other facets of Guy Davies Hamish July 2003 High Progress on 07.11.03 performance (including Watson, Julia onwards remaining quality) not sacrificed Dawe, Darren tasks to be Williams monitored through correlated reviews of a) speed of decision, b) appeal success rate and c) customer satisfaction 34 Extend Performance Management A set of targets and PIs for Mark Gerry McPhail April 2003 Medium Completed 09.06.03 . regime to cover targets set out in the service and each Harbottle Guy Davies Reports draft service charters (2) constituent part that are Dee Woods, revised and based on service charter Sara James new data

targets (item 2) identified April and May data collected 35 Establish medium and long term Three and five year targets Mark Tom Crowley To take High Completed 28.10.03 . targets on key performance set and published Harbottle & effect form Targets indicators (2) Robert September agreed. To Cottrill 2003 be published in corporate plan for launch in Nov & on website

Improving decision-making (see also item 7 above re Public Interface with Planning Committee) 36 Enhance role of ward councillors Develop the Area Panels Tom Crowley Cllr Kay, Cllr To be High Completed 19.08.03 . in early stages of plans and as part of the Council’s Miller, other considered Meetings of applications (3) Locality Initiative members, by the Task Group held Mark group 17.06.03 Harbottle, outlined in And Chris Cook item 7 29.07.03 above Added in draft report under task 7 37 Address tension between ward Greater clarity in role and Tom Crowley Chris Cook To be High Completed 19.08.03 . representative role of councillors interests being considered Meetings of and “quasi-judicial” role of those represented by councillors by the Task Group held on Planning Committee (2) on Planning Committee group 17.06.03 And 29.07.03 Added in

draft report under task 7

Improving the use of technology 38 Exploring the scope for better Seamless exchange of Kenton Hew Penfold, On going Medium Requires 19.08.03 . integration of CAPS Uniform with data without need for Reader Sara Taylor CAPS other related systems (2) duplicating entries uniform upgrade planned for November 2003

39 Expand and Improve Website Improved availability of . Content (10) information and service access through the Council’s web site, including: Service standards/ Mark Fionnula Content of High Completed 23.06.03 charters Harbottle & Russell, leaflets in David Powell Joanne the with Peter Capper, Guy Improving Markham Davies, Customer Kenton Service Reader section to be published on web site

Local Plan, SPG and other High Completed 12.05.03 policy provisions

How to make applications High Completed 12.05.03

How to respond when High Completed 12.05.03 consulted Provision of application High Completed 12.05.03 forms Details of submitted High Completed 12.05.03 applications (including (text only) plans) Online submission of High Completed 21.07.03 applications, responses to Info on Web consultations etc. site for neighbours comments Decision-making High Completed 12.05.03 arrangements (including Committee)

48 Develop mechanisms to allow on Applicants, consultees, Kenton Other Proposals to High Target dates 10.10.03 . line submission and consultation staff & members able to Reader Business emerge set: DC on applications (both planning & contribute electronically to Solutions from E- applications building control) (10) processing of applications staff, Government via Planning from submission, through Chris Cook Initiative – Portal consultation to decision & date to be 31/03/04 adoption on public determined BC registers applications via Submit A Plan 31/12/03 49 Organise Programme for Training Officers and members Kenton Cllr Kay, Cllr From High Questionnaire 28.10.03 . for officers and members on aware of and able to use Reader & Miller, Cllr September to determine range of IT systems and appropriate IT systems Janet Males Mrs Ross- 2003 current applications (2) and applications Tomlin levels of IT D:\Docs\2018-04-11\0d726b9077fecddc5526fc0ef74b8631.doc Page 14 of 17 Updated on 07/05/2018 BEST VALUE REVIEW OF PLANNING SERVICES Annex 1 MONITORING OF PROGRESS AGAINST IMPROVEMENT PLAN

skills/ requirement completed by officers 20.10.03 CAPS training dates set for November

Driving implementation of the Improvement Plan 50 Allocate responsibility for Corporate Management Chief CMT April 2003 High Completed 27.05.03 . monitoring and reporting Team and Members Executive Mark Then Tom progress on whole Improvement receive regular reports on Harbottle monthly Crowley is Plan (1) progress. Progress Robert Cottrill accountable against Plan timetable officer. maintained Discussed at CMT since draft reply received. Periodic reports to follow 51 Establish inter-service Project Clear responsibilities Tom Crowley Mark May 2003 High Completed 27.05.03 . Teams to progress groups of understood by staff for Harbottle Project tasks in Improvement Plan (2) progressing tasks. Gerry McPhail Team Momentum of BVR staff Guy Davies established workshops maintained Dee Woods and first meeting of Board scheduled for 19.05.03 52 Identify staff member to assume Managers & staff regularly Mark Ruth April 2003 Medium Completed 27.05.03 . responsibility for maintenance of informed of progress in Harbottle Bellingham Julia Dawe customer focus initiatives, e.g.: achieving customer service tasked Mystery shopper phone calls (2) targets Ensuring Help Shops have stocks of Problems identified and Mark Ruth April 2003 Medium Completed 27.05.03 relevant information leaflets (1) rectified early Harbottle Bellingham Julia Dawe tasked

Regular liaison with Help Shop Problems identified and Mark Ruth April 2003 Medium Completed 27.05.03 manager (1) rectified early Harbottle Bellingham Julia Dawe tasked 55 Identify staff member to assume All staff (including relevant Mark Sue Belcher, April 2003 Medium Completed 02.06.03 . responsibility for publicising staff outside Planning) Harbottle Fionnula Sue Belcher progress on Implementation Plan, aware of progress. Plan Russell tasked. e.g.: not allowed to “gather First Regular Staff bulletins; Input into dust” newsletter existing staff newsletters/ circulated communications (3) 02.06.03 56 Allocate regular slot on Service All staff (including relevant Mark Sue Belcher, April 2003 Medium Completed 08.07.03 . Unit & Team management staff outside Planning) Harbottle & Ruth Now a meetings to consider progress aware of progress. Plan Robert Cottrill Bellingham, standing Relevant staff from Customer not allowed to “gather Chris Cook item on BDS Services, IT, Member Services etc. dust” & P+CI to be involved (1) agenda

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