Content

Salford City Council - Record of
Decision
 
I, Councillor McCusker,
Lead Member for Planning,
Transport & Sustainable Development, in exercise of the powers contained within the City
Council Constitution, do
hereby:
 

Approve the introduction of the revised customer choice
service;
Approve the full cost recovery charges associated with the
revised service; and
Delegate authority to the Executive Director Place to set fees
and update pre-application development categories for the service
in the future.

 
The Reasons are:
Salford City Council first
introduced charging for pre-application planning advice in 2010,
with a review of charges taking place in 2011.  During 2019 a fundamental review of the service
offer and whether it was meeting the needs of the development
community was undertaken.  The outcome
of this review was a revitalised service that took account of the
varying needs of developers for different sites, and fees were set
to facilitate cost recovery.
 
Given 5 years has now lapsed
since the previous review, together with rising service delivery
costs and the inception of a line of business office system, it was
felt that this was an opportune time to revisit the service offer
(including fees).  The decision to
review the service offer was further influenced by the Planning
Advisory Service (PAS) publishing their research results concerning
a countrywide project relating to pre-application services (March
2023).  The outcome of this research was
to provide ‘Ten principles for successful pre-applications
and PPAs’ and a Pre-application Fee Calculator for Local
Planning Authorities to use, with the idea that if every council
undertook to meet this best practice there would be a consistency
of approach for developers.
 
The review has determined that
the service choice model required amendments and that there was
significant justification to revisit the approach to service fees
to ensure full cost recovery.
 
Options considered and rejected were:
Given the evolutionary nature
of the service since 2010 and the feedback received from
stakeholders, it was a case of refining the current offer rather
than starting again.  Therefore, various
changes were recommended for consideration but alternative options
for the services structure and charging schedule were not
considered. 
 
Assessment of Risk:
The increased charges may
discourage some applicants from seeking pre-application advice
although the risk of this is considered to be low.  In addition, poor quality development which can
harm the local community will be prevented during the formal
application stage of planning.  
 
The
source of funding is:
N/A
 
Legal Advice
obtained:
Supplied by: the shared legal service and Dated 20th
May 2024:
The legal implications …
As noted in paragraph 1.2 of this report s111 of the  Local Government Act 1972 provides that a local
authority shall have the power to do anything which is calculated
to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the discharge of
any of their functions. Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003
gives a local authority power to charge for discretionary services
provided the authority has the power to provide that service and
the recipient of the service agrees to the authority providing
it.  The council as a local planning
authority has the power to provide planning services and as such
has the power by virtue of s93 to charge for pre-application advice
which can be said to be incidental to providing the planning
service in accordance with s111, provided always that in exercising
the power the council must ensure that, taking one financial year
with another, the income from the advice does not exceed the costs
of providing the service.
 
Financial Advice obtained:
Supplied
by: Martin Anglesey, Accountant
Martin.anglesey@salford.gov.uk Date: 13 May 2024
 
The review of charges in
respect of Pre-Application advice will enable the City Council to
update the various hourly rates charged to applicants. These new
charges are based on current officer pay-scales, plus up to date
overhead absorption rates, to cover for example, the considerable
background investment in associated IT infrastructure.  Failure to update these charges would result in
the City Council unable to recover the costs of service, as the
rates currently charged are based on what is now outdated data due
to factors such as employee pay reviews.
 
The proposed charges are
comparable with other Local Authorities, and the method for
calculation has been aligned within the Planning Advisory Service
(PAS) framework. This offers transparency as to how hourly rates
have been determined and enables the City Council to justify these
rates if scrutinised.
 
Income will be coded to revenue
Pre- Application budget, cost centre: D4408 7528
 
Procurement Advice
obtained: N/A
 
HR Advice
obtained: N/A
 
Climate Change Advice
obtained: N/A
 
The
following documents have been used to assist the decision
process:
Lead Member Report.
 
Contact
Officer:
Jade Corcoran                               
Tel: 0161 779 4881
 
This decision is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel
to call-in the decision is the Growth & Prosperity Scrutiny
Panel.
 
 

 
Signed: Councillor McCusker                                    
Dated: 17th July 2024
Lead
Member for Planning, Transport & Sustainable
Development
 

 
This decision was published on 23rd July 2024.
 
This decision will come into force at
4.00 p.m. on 30th July 2024, unless it is called-in in accordance with the
decision making process rules.