AGENDA ITEM NO. 9

REPORT TO: / Executive Board
REPORT NO. / CPLO/33/10
DATE: / 27 July 2010
LEAD MEMBER: / Councillor Mark Pritchard
(Housing and Planning)
LEAD OFFICER: / Chief Planning Officer
CONTACT OFFICER: / Lawrence Isted (Tel: 292500)
SUBJECT: / Regional Collaboration Specialist Planning Services - Creation of a North WalesMinerals and Waste Planning Service
WARD: / All

1PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

1.1To seek approval to enter into an agreement with Flintshire CC to provide a North Wales Minerals and Waste Planning service.

2EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1The North Wales Planning Officers Group (NWPOG), consisting of the 7 Local Planning Authorities in North Wales, has been working on a ‘Making the Connections’regional collaboration project in respect of Mineral and Waste Planning. This report follows an ‘in principle’ decision made by the Executive Board on 23 March 2010 to progress the formation of a shared service (Report CPLO/16/10).

2.2The proposed shared service is being created in response to the need to make this specialist Planning service much more resilient, particularly in the context of financial constraint within the public sector. It has been developed in direct support of the Welsh Assembly’s ‘Making the Connections’ initiative and the vision of the North Wales Regional Partnership Board to use collaboration to improve services and make them more efficient, whilst retaining local democratic choice and accountability.

2.3The business case for this collaboration is to secure an increased ability to plan consistently for minerals and waste activities, an increased potential for income generation, an enhanced ability to respond to peaks in service demand and increased staff satisfaction and career development at no greater cost to the authority than it currently expends.

2.4The Partners in this collaboration comprise the 6 North Wales Local Authorities and the Snowdonia National Park Authority which is a designated as a Minerals Planning Authority. Flintshire County Council will be the Lead Authority, responsible for employing the team and accountable for delivering the service.

3RECOMMENDATIONS

(i)That the Executive Board agrees to the Council being a party to the proposed North Walesshared service for Minerals and Waste Planning.

(ii)That the Chief Planning Officer be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Chief Legal and Democratic Services Officer, to sign on behalf of the Council the proposed legal agreement governing the administration of the shared service, subject to any amendments as may be agreed by the Partner Authorities.

(iii)That the performance of the new service be the subject of review and a further report to the Executive Board in 12 months.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

To provide an effective and efficient Minerals and Waste Planning Service through regional collaboration.

Lawrence Isted

Chief Planning Officer

4BACKGROUND INFORMATION

What the Authority is agreeing to

4.1In essence, the authority is agreeing to authorise the creation of a shared service led by Flintshire County Council to provide its Minerals and Waste Planning service for a set annual fee (based on the same staffing resource it has been paying). The precise scope of the service is detailed in paragraph 4.15 below.

4.2The authority will support the governance of the service through its membership of the North Wales Chief Planning Officers Group. This governance will include the approval of a business plan and regular performance reporting.

4.3Planning decisions will continue to be made by Wrexham through the Planning Committee and/or Chief Planning Officer under the Scheme of Delegation and any changes to planning policy will also continue to be a matter for the authority.

4.4The authority will continue to register planning applications and will continue to take the application fee. The shared service will carry out site monitoring and retain the fee for this work.

Business Case for a Shared Service

4.5The business case for this collaboration is based on securing an increased ability to plan consistently for minerals and waste activities, an increased potential for income generation, an enhanced ability to respond to peaks in service demand, a better ability to attract and retain specialist staff, increased staff satisfaction levels and career development and the benefits associated with economies of scale. In short, a better service with no extra cost to the tax payer.

Commencement and Length of Agreement

4.6Given agreement to form this shared service by all the partner authorities during July 2010, the service will become operational on 1 October 2010 followed by a period of embedding and improvement. The agreement will last for a minimum of 3 years, with appropriate terms for withdrawal and extension.

Project Approach

4.7In preparing for this shared service, a project approach has been taken with regular consultation and engagement with the managers and the professional staff in the respective planning services. The professional staff have helped to design the new service.

4.8Reports and updates were taken to the Collaboration Officers Group (COGS) during the development phase and advice taken from the Welsh Local Government Association.

4.9The North Wales Chief Planning Officers Group commissioned this work and has operated as a Project Board to oversee the progress of the Shared Service development.

4.10Consultation has occurred as specified in Section 5 below.

4.11Specialist support managers in Flintshire, including ICT, HR, Finance, Property, Legal and Communications,have advised the project as it has progressed.

4.12Where staff may be seconded or TUPE transferred into the shared service the local Trade Union representative has been involved. This has been the case in Gwynedd, but is not applicable to Wrexham given that the staff who presently perform this role do so as a percentage of their work, but staff and the Unions will be consulted in accordance with the Council’s policy. Flintshire will be the employer of any new appointees.

Governance

4.13A legal agreement provides the framework for governance. The shared service will employ a Service Manager accountable to a Governance Board comprising the Chief Planning Officers of the 7 authorities. Decisions on planning applications and the approval of planning policy will continue to be made by the respective 7 Planning Authorities under their schemes of delegation. Planning policy will be developed by the shared service, but decisions on its adoption or revision will continue to be made by the individual Planning Authorities.

Scope of Service

4.14The Minerals and Waste Planning Service will provide a service of:

  • Policy development and advice in respect of Minerals and Waste Planning
  • Processing minerals and waste planning applications (including energy from waste applications)from pre-application advice through to compiling a report recommending a decision
  • Providing evidence at appeals and inquiries, subject to capacity
  • Monitoring minerals and waste developments (active and dormant sites) for compliance with planning control and taking enforcement action as appropriate.
  • Strategic coordination and communication of policy and activity across North Wales as well as liaison with the public and industry about developments.

What is not in Scope?

4.15The individual Planning Authority will continue to be responsible for providing legal advice in respect of applications, appeals and inquiries and for providing advice in respect of Ecology, Landscape, Public Protection and Highways.

4.16Decisions on planning applications and the approval of policy will continue to be made by each respective Planning Authority.

4.17The Shared Service will work closely with the Waste Disposal Services across the North Wales Local Authorities, but will not be directly concerned with the process of Waste Management.

Support Services

4.18Support services including Finance, ICT, Property Services, HR and Internal Audit will be provided by Flintshire County Council and charged to the shared Service. Gwynedd will provide some accommodation for an office hub to cover NW Wales within Gwynedd.

Performance of the Service

4.19The success of the shared service will be judged through a balanced set of performance indicators relating to cost, speed and quality of service delivery. The Service Manager will be responsible and accountable to the Governance Board of the North WalesChief Planning Officers for achieving performance standards set and for developing the service into a centre of excellence.

Cost of Service

4.20The annual cost of the Service, subject to annual review, will be:

  • Flintshire County Council £122,201
  • Gwynedd Council £44,217 (Payable through a staff

secondment and the forgoing

of site monitoring income)

  • Wrexham£44,217
  • Denbighshire£38,771
  • Isle of Anglesey£30,440
  • Conwy£8,843

4.21Based on the Shared Service becoming operational on 1 October 2010, and one of the posts only being filled part time, pending the award of a potential contract, the cost to the authority in 2010/11 will be:

  • Flintshire County Council £54,991
  • Gwynedd Council A staff secondment and the forgoing of site

monitoring income)

  • Wrexham£19,898
  • Denbighshire£17,447
  • Isle of Anglesey£13,698
  • Conwy£3,980

4.22The National Park Authority is committed to being a member of this shared service and will use the service for its Mineral and Waste Planning work. It will pay for pieces of work on a reactive basis at a day rate of £250 as outlined in the legal agreement. It will also permit the lead authority to carry out monitoring work on sites within the National Park and retain the statutory fee for undertaking such work. This will provide an additional service to the Park Authority at no additional cost.

4.23This cost has been based on the staffing costs that the authority currently deploys to deliver this service and reflects the volume of demand that the authority receives for this type of service.

4.24The legal agreement contains provision for the shared service to record the volume of work and the performance it achieves in each authority area each year. The cost to the authority in future years will be adjusted to reflect the volume of work actually required. This will help ensure equity amongst the partner authorities.

4.25A budget has been prepared for the shared service, the total turnover of which will be in the region of £350,000. The budget will be reviewed periodically by the North Wales Planning Officers Group.

Staffing Issues

4.26A staffing structure has been developed with a service manager and 7 other planning staff. Precise deployment of staff will be an operational matter for the service manager, but at least 2 Senior Planning Officers will continue to be based in NW Wales to provide a locally accessible service in this area.

4.27Staff already working the vast majority (70-80%) of their time on Minerals and Waste Planning work will be slotted into the new structure following grading of the posts (this does not apply to Wrexham staff). Other vacancies in the structure will be initially ring-fenced to those staff in any of the 7 authorities to apply for, who currently spend some of their time providing this service (this does apply to Wrexham staff).

4.28The two members of staff who presently provide this service for Wrexham will have an opportunity to apply for these posts. If they do not apply or are unsuccessful their posts will need to be revised and re-evaluated to take account of the exclusion of this small element of work. This will be done in accordance with the Councils usual HR policies and procedures and in the context of other changes that will be occurring in the Planning Department as a result of the Transformation project, mainly around the filling of some vacancies and the deletion of other vacant posts. This will also involve consultation with the staff and Unions

4.29All staff related matters will be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s policies and procedures, which will include consultation with the trade unions and employees affected by these proposals and every effort to mitigate against the need for redundancies.

Office Location

4.30The Service will be based in the Mold offices of Flintshire County Council with a hub office in Gwynedd too.

Risks and Challenges

4.31For the shared service the current key challenge is accessing the various ICT

systems in an efficient way.

4.32From September 2010 onwards the key risks for the shared service will be:

  • Completing the staff recruitment
  • Getting the new service established
  • Achieving income targets
  • Meeting the expectations of partner authorities
  • Continuing to satisfy external customers during a period of change

4.33For the Authority there are risks in ensuring a quality service is maintained having delegated operational responsibility. This is very much mitigated by the business case to create a shared service to provide greater resilience. The authority also maintains a position on the governance board which will oversee plans and performance.

4.34In the future the Authority will need to adapt to a way of working whereby it achieves its required outcomes by appropriately applying governance through a range of operational structures.

4.35For Flintshire County Council there is an increased responsibility and risk associated with being the lead authority. It will in future be accountable for ensuring its partner authorities are satisfied with the service and that it stays within the budget allocated. Flintshire will use the Governance Board to help it deliver the promised outcomes, address any emerging issues very quickly and steer the service to be a centre of excellence.

Improvement Planning

4.36The Shared Service has produced a Business Plan to help it manage the service. This will be approved by and monitored by the Governance Board. Within this plan are a range of improvement actions to help the service move from a merged service to one that is highly efficient, effective and economic.

5CONSULTATION

5.1Letters of consultation have been sent to the Welsh Assembly Government, the Environment Agency Wales, the Countryside Commission Wales and other statutory agencies advising them of the intention to create this shared service and the rationale for doing so.

5.2The Regional Aggregates Working Party (RAWP), an Industry / Public sector joint forum were briefed on the proposals at their meeting on 11 June and letters have been sent out to known interested operators, agents and applicants.

5.3A communication has been circulated to other Council staff who have a relationship with Minerals and Waste Planning to advise them of the intended changes. This has included other Planning staff, Environmental Health (Public Protection) and Highways.

5.4Comments have been sought from the Chief Legal & Democratic Services, Finance & Performance and Human Resources Officers and Trade Union Representatives.

5.5Formal consultation with the most affected staff and any Union representative would need to occur following Member approval, in accordance with the Council’s HR policies and procedures.

6SCRUTINY COMMITTEE COMMENTS

6.1This report has not been considered by the Scrutiny Committee.

7IMPLICATIONS

7.1Policy Framework: This general approach accords with the Council’s stated intensions of improving service delivery and efficiency, where appropriate through regional collaboration.

7.2Budget: A budget for this shared service has been developed by a Finance Manager in Flintshire County Council that accounts for the key areas of expenditure and the expected levels of income. The cost to the authority of paying for this new service approximates to the costs that the authority has been paying to date. To enable the authority to make a payment to Flintshire requires some redeployment of staff to access such cash resources, but without any need for additional demands on the current revenue budget.

The details of the budget implications are explained in paragraphs 4.20 to 4.25 above.

7.3Legal: The legal agreement has been prepared based on similar North Wales Shared Service arrangements and with the support of a legal officer in Flintshire.

7.4Staffing:The authority presently employs two Planning Officers, some of whose role includes the provision of the Mineral and Waste Service. They have been consulted and will be being given an opportunity to apply to join the shared service or have some new duties appropriately re-deployed to them. One of the outcomes of the shared service is a better ability to attract and retain specialist staff, increased staff satisfaction levels and enhance career development.

The details of the staffing implications are explained in paragraphs 4.26 – 4.29.

7.5Equalities:There are no equality issues arising from this change.

BACKGROUND PAPERS / LOCATION / WEBSITE INFORMATION
‘In principle’ decision paper (March 2010) / Report CPLO/16/10

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