A major new report published is urging a cull of bureaucracy in the planning application process to make it work better for everyone and help economic recovery.

Joanna Killian and David Pretty have developed an ambitious, but deliverable, package of practical recommendations which will create a more proportionate, customer focused and responsive process, but importantly they will not alter the balance of decision making, weaken important safeguards, or reduce public consultation.

The planning system is dominated by minor developments. The review recommends that nearly 40% of minor non-residential, mainly commercial, planning applications, such as for small scale alterations and extensions, should be taken out of the planning system altogether or subject to a much quicker process.

It also recommends improving the critically important pre-application phase, particularly for major developments, with a much greater focus on getting developers, councils and consultees, including local communities, to sort out key issues that could cause lengthy delays later in the process.

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And, it proposes a new customer focus for council planning performance based on the quality of service provided throughout the whole process, not just on its speed.

These and other recommendations will speed up the process and improve its effectiveness and transparency, and could deliver up to £300m of savings for councils, applicants and the wider economy each year.

The recommendations will free up and encourage councils and consultees to focus their resources on the larger developments that can make the biggest impact on communities. Taken together they will make a real difference to businesses large and small, manufacturers, householders, and stretched public services, all facing tougher economic times ahead.

Mr Pretty said: "Quite simply, the planning application process is too slow and bogged down in unnecessary red tape, to the extent that it acts as brake on key elements of the economy. It is crucial, particularly given today's economic climate, that we tackle this problem. In a system dominated by minor developments, even the simple decisions now take far too long. This is massively frustrating for both applicants and council planners with excessive workloads.

"We believe that our recommendations - based on extensive discussions with stakeholders - will go a long way to re-energising and streamlining the planning applications process. This will also free up council resources, help economic recovery, and help to ensure that we get the right development, in the right place at the right time."

(CD/JM)