Massive improvements in the last year in planning application performance in Bedford Borough

Under the outgoing Liberal Democrat administration, Bedford Borough Council has seen a dramatic improvement in planning performance post-Covid, overtaking 30 more authorities in the latest figures published by the Government.

Although the rolling data covers two years (and as a result takes longer for any changes to show), the improvement is so dramatic that the figure for this year alone shows 80% of Minor planning applications and 90% of Major planning applications meeting the target time for decision-making; far above the Government set targets.

Councillor Henry Vann, the outgoing Portfolio Holder for Planning, said "People remember the days of poor performance at the Conservative-run County Council. But despite massive cuts, we had turned the planning department around: Bedford Borough under the previous administration was bucking the national trend and leading the way with this dramatic improvement in performance which is set to continue with a massive over-performance in this year alone.

"As the outgoing administration we have left the planning department with an almost entirely permanent planning staffing in place, a brilliant local training offer, and dramatic improvements in performance and as a result Bedford is leading the way over other planning authorities. A huge thank you to all the officers involved in delivering such massive improvements. We will be closely scrutinising the new administration to ensure that this improvement journey we began is continued."