COSTS awarded in planning appeal cases by the council in 2010/11 amounted to £70,000.

Almost 70 per cent of all appeals against committee decisions on planning applications were successful, while just 31 per cent of appeals against decisions made by planning officers were upheld.

A report written by the chief planning and regeneration officer read: “These results do not automatically imply that officer decisions are more reliable than committee decisions.

“Cases decided by committee tend to be for larger and/or more controversial developments where the weight of planning arguments is more finely balanced.”

Of approximately 3,000 planning applications received by the council, 299 went to appeal. This is a rise on 2009/10's figure of 221 out of 3,000.

The average succes rate of appeals was 35 per cent, in line with the former national average before this target was abolished.

Despite the amount paid out in 2010/11 in appeal cases, just £47,000 has been set aside by the authority for similar costs in 2011/12.

If more cash is required the demand would have to be met by the overall planning and regeneration budget.

The report concluded that the head of development management is working with planning officers to write “robust appeal statements” that demonstrate the harm of the proposed development to reduce the number of successful appeals in cases of decisions taken by committees where the officer’s recommendation was overturned.

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