At Somerset Council’s latest Full Council meeting, Conservative councillor Barry Clarke questioned the Liberal Democrat administration’s continued failure to fix long-standing problems within the county’s planning service.
Cllr Clarke highlighted that even back in 2011, senior officers in Mendip District Council had admitted to “frustrating” levels of service and “regrettable” resourcing issues, remarks which he said could just as easily describe Somerset Council’s current situation.
He said, “This letter from 2011 could have been written today. Despite all the experience available across the planning service, the administration and senior officers failed to recognise the scale of the issues early enough to prevent it. Residents and businesses are left waiting months - even years - for decisions.”
Cllr Clarke pressed the Council for clear answers on three key points:
- Why Somerset Council’s planning performance remains so dependent on incompatible IT systems across different areas.
- Why external consultants were brought in to advise on “corrective measures” which have, in many cases, made things worse for applicants.
- And whether the service will genuinely return to normal when the temporary “emergency measures” ends on 28th October.
In response, Liberal Democrat Lead Member for Economic Development, Planning and Assets, Cllr Mike Rigby, admitted that the council continues to operate on multiple IT systems and that this makes “moving resources around to meet demand more difficult.” He confirmed that consultants Mondrem were brought in to identify barriers within the service and that the backlog of live applications has only reduced from 1,648 to 1,431.
