LESSONS LEARNED FROM A PAPERLESS PARISH

LCR online has an interesting article about Bath and North East Somerset Councils attempt to help their parishes go paperless where planning applications are concerned.

Persuading town and parish councils to work electronically is still one of the main barriers to Local Planning Authorities going paperless.

While many LPAs have managed to reduce printing of planning applications submitted online via the Planning Portal to a minimum of one copy for internal reference, many are still having to print more copies to send to their parishes for consultation.

The aim of the event was to discuss the benefits and barriers of using technology to present planning application information to parishioners on-screen at local planning committee meetings.
 
Dunkerton Parish Council was the first BATHNES parish council to present planning application information electronically on-screen at planning committee meetings.

While this move is key to reducing costs and improving efficiency for the planning authority, Dunkerton Parish Council chairman Cllr. Martin Robinson pointed out that it is important to identify benefits for the town or parish councils.

Martin confessed to not being the most IT-literate person when he first looked into using technology at committee meetings. However, in a short time he has become very proficient in preparing the appropriate information for display and discussion.

He demonstrated how the equipment could also be used for other parish council business, such as crime prevention talks, neighbourhood planning meetings and flooding assessments. Incorporating photographs of site inspections, Google Earth views, local plan images and even video footage could further enhance the tool.

The parish council has also taken full advantage of the technology to ensure that all parish business is fully transparent by displaying all parish-meeting minutes and accounts on-screen during council meetings.

Parishes don’t like having to store past application documents – these often have to be kept in the clerk’s or other parishioner’s garage, loft or conservatory. This takes up a lot of space, causes worry about documents getting damaged/spoiled and individual files can be difficult to find as required.

Dunkerton is now paperless. The parish links to the information already stored in the BATHNES online planning application register and this removes the need to receive or store mountains of paper locally – freeing up valuable space in the conservatory.

The presentations for the event can be found here, which also demonstrates how Dunkerton Parish Council has used this media to present planning applications and enhance the information provided and also examples of early work on developing a neighbourhood plan.

Planning Portal has recently updated its best practice links guidance for local planning authorities, which may be of use for local parish and town council websites too.

The direct links are to planning and building regulations content so may help to demystify queries on these matters and can be accessed here.