Decline in planning applications and a lack of staff has cost Rugby Borough Council more than £500,000
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A decline in planning applications and a lack of staff to cover those that came through left a half-a-million pound gap in Rugby Borough Council’s finances.
Outturn figures for the financial year 2022-23 showed that the authority received £320,000 less than expected from planning applications.
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Hide AdThe council’s report cited “turbulence in the wider economy in the autumn” for the drop off in the final six months of the year – between October 2022 and March 2023 – but stated that “monthly income is now recovering in line with profile”.
A further £192,000 was spent “on agency staff covering vacancies and dealing with a backlog of planning applications”, which the report said “was a result of the gap between staff leaving and agency staff being recruited”.
Council budgets are complex and made up of many moving parts. It is not unusual to see a list of variances come the end of the year through costly unforeseen issues or extra funding coming in, and more than £54,000 was clawed back through pre-planning charges.
However, the staffing issue is one that does not look like going away any time soon.
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Hide AdThe report was considered and approved by cabinet this week without this specific issue being raised by councillors but the recruitment and retention of planning professionals was highlighted as one of the biggest staffing challenges faced by Warwickshire County Council only last week.
Scott Tompkins, the county’s assistant director for environment services, noted a national “skill shortage across engineering and planning” and that he “just can’t get suitable candidates”, even for senior posts with salaries upwards of £40,000 per year.