A FURTHER £250,000 is set to be added to BCP Council’s planning in a bid to relieve pressure on the struggling department.

Difficulties with a backlog of applications, staff shortages and the ongoing process of combining services following local government reorganisation had put the council at risk of government intervention.

Next month its cabinet will be asked to approve a further £250,000 for the department to boost staffing levels and speed up the time it takes to decide on schemes.

Between July and September last year the council failed to hit any of its targets, risking the government taking over the decision-making process.

In January council leader Drew Mellor said this “would not be far away” without improvement.

Delays were partly caused by a backlog in applications from the first lockdown and an increase in the number of more minor proposals, such as home extensions, being lodged in the summer.

A cabinet report says the council had the 13th-largest increase in the number of applications being submitted over that period.

Issues, including the existence of three separate planning systems, have also been caused by the ongoing process of merging services following local government reorganisation in 2019, it adds.

“The impact from the various barriers to optimum service delivery have resulted in a situation where service performance standards are not at the level where all stakeholders would want it to be,” it says.

A “planning improvement board”, headed by the council’s chief executive, has been set up to look at ways to manage pressures.

And although the speed at which applications have been decided has improved this year, regeneration plans outlined in the budget will see councillors asked to improve a £250,000 increase to the department’s budget.

This is made up of £100,000 to boost staffing levels, £70,000 to speed up merger work, £50,000 to address the backlog and £30,000 for work on major “strategic” sites across the area.

“The £250,000 will provide a significant in-year boost to enable the service to bring in short-term capacity to deal with the current on hand demand in advance of the smarter structures project being completed,” the report adds.

The council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the extra funding when it meets on April 14.