Planning Services: Greater Transparency Needed

Senior Planning Consultant Chris Crew was recently interviewed by BBC News Guernsey on the States of Guernsey's Development & Planning Authority's 17% increase in planning and building control application fees.

The interview also covered the property industry's concerns on the timeliness of planning decisions in Guernsey - how 'slow and unwieldy' decisions can have a knock-on effect on the costs of developments - concluding that these two factors are putting people off obtaining the correct planning permissions.

Having stopped the regular publication of performance statistics in 2020, Chris welcomed the DPA's recent decision to publish 'regular operational updates, such as performance statistics covering timescales for determination of planning applications, alongside reports monitoring the effectiveness of Island development plan policies.'