Staffordshire council given £50k Government funding to tackle planning enforcement

South Staffordshire Council has been facing “increased caseload pressures” in its planning department, meaning it is currently not meeting a target to ensure that 80% of enforcement cases are investigated and concluded within 12 weeks.

But the service has seen some improvements in recent months, the council’s cabinet heard at its meeting on Tuesday.

Council monitoring officer David Pattison told the meeting: “We were at round about 67 per cent but we are now, as of today, at 78 per cent against the 80 per cent target. We have every confidence we will meet and exceed that target.

“The reason is because of the steps we have taken . We recognised that there was a challenge in performance. We have gone and got an additional grant and brought extra people in and we have found a new approach to it. We are working very closely with the Challenge Panel, helping us to drive that performance up.

“We have had a substantial increase in the number of cases – Government is recognising that to an extent because we are a green belt authority. That’s how we managed to secure an additional £50,000 funding, which has helped to pay for additional resources.”

The other target the council is not currently meeting is to generate £100,000 of income to support the district’s voluntary and community sector through the South Staffordshire Community Lottery.

A cabinet report said: “Since the launch of the lottery in November 2017 (to) September 2019, 61 good causes have signed up; 77,331 tickets have been sold and £77,331 of total revenue has been generated. Of the total revenue, £46,398.60 has gone to our good causes.

“Over quarter one and quarter two of 2019/20 (April to September), £23,664 of total revenue has been generated. This is an increase of eight per cent since last quarter and an increase of 12.6 per cent compared to quarter one and two of last year (and) £14,198.40 of the total revenue has gone to our good causes.

“Based on the income generated during quarter one and two and the number of live tickets remaining at the same level, the total net income that will be generated in 2019/20 for all good causes is predicted to be £28,396 (Revenue £47,328). Despite recording this target as red (not on target), ticket sales are increasing.

“Gatherwell, our external lottery management, has praised our hard work and marketing efforts. Other councils of a similar lottery lifespan and population size have flat lined and have not seen as much growth as the South Staffordshire Lottery.”

Council leader Brian Edwards said: “It shows red because we just didn’t get as far as we hoped we would. But it’s still doing a very good job of providing for CAB and others like that.”