Planning Advisory Service

We help councillors and local authority officers understand and respond to planning reform. We offer consultancy and peer support, learning events and online resources on:

• Planning Reform - neighbourhood planning, National Planning Policy Framework
• Community Infrastructure Levy
• Plan making - local plans, evidence, community engagement 
• Development management - pre-apps, application handling, local development orders
• Benchmarking, efficiency and performance improvement 
• Skills and training - leadership, viability, probity, planning for councillors 

Latest additions

• The essentials of a planning service - planning improvement and performance event Last updated 30 July 2009

  Come and hear colleagues talk about improvement at a time of shrinking resources and pressure on performance. PAS will be sharing what it has learned from over three years of benchmarking experience, thousands of hours of activity and data from hundreds of thousands of applications. Manchester and London

  

• Strategic Planning and the Duty to Cooperate workshop Last updated 14 June 2013

  We are running a workshop to enable you to better understand and respond to the requirements of the Duty to Cooperate and strategic planning.

  

• Neighbourhood Plan Project Management Tool Last updated 5 June 2013

  We have produced a free to access project management tool to aid local authorities and communities working together to produce neighbourhood plans.

  

• Viability two-day events Last updated 14 June 2013

  We want to help planning officers to better understand the issues, legislation and context of viability, and how it impacts on both plan-making and application stages. You will learn about the terminology, content of appraisals and undertake practical appraisal exercises.

  

• Peer challenges Last updated 12 June 2013

  Is your council “Open for Growth”? Can you do better to provide an environment where new development is encouraged and businesses are supported to grow and invest? PAS has a new peer challenge to help you answer this.

  

• Neighbourhood Planning: Local authoritiy/neighbourhood agreements Last updated 14 June 2013

  Some local authorities and communities working together on neighbourhood planning are entering into agreements to set out how they will work together and the support available.

  

• Probity in planning guide Last updated 17 June 2013

  We've put together a resource to support the implementation of a development management approach to planning. It draws on council experience with culture change, front-loading the process with pre-application discussions, resourcing and the role of members.

  

• Benchmarking, efficiency and performance improvement Last updated 29 May 2013

  Support to help you delivery a more efficient and effective planning service: Planning benchmarking club, joint-working and service transformation.

  

• Models of delivery Last updated 6 June 2013

  We recently worked with a few local authorities, looking at different options for delivering a planning service. Download the workbook that authorities used to help you start thinking about this.

  

• Getting your plan in place Last updated 5 June 2013

  The Getting your Plan in Place councillor briefing presents the main aspects of the plan-making process, setting out the key plan-making principles and steps that planning authorities need to take in order to get a robust plan in place. It is for councillors who are leading the production of the local plan through the council’s local plan steering group.