PLANNING plays a major role in keeping the economy afloat.
Director of planning Michael Gallagher, who took up his position in April last year, believes he and his team help keep the cogs turning in difficult times.
‘A lot of people forget there’s a lot of smaller scale development going on,’ he said. ‘It’s probably what’s kept a lot of the small contracters and builders going. If you were to walk around and see the number of buildings with scaffolding up, there’s still a lot of things going on.
‘Across you don’t see that level of small scale activity at the minute. That’s important, just to keep the economy going.’
Planning’s central role in the island’s future is one Mr Gallagher, as well as the politicians, are keen to highlight. In this year’s Budget speech, Chief Minister Allan Bell referred to encouraging development that would benefit the economy. Mr Gallagher said this was not a policy change, more a call to potential applicants to consider including more detailed information about how their plans would benefit the economy. This, in turn, would allow planners to make a more informed decision in the context of the bigger picture.
A draft planning policy statement on Planning and the Economy has recently gone out to consultation. Responses are now being collated and may potentially shape any changes to that policy.
Launching the consultation Infrastructure Minister David Cretney said: ‘Achieving sustainable economic growth requires a fast, efficient and responsive planning system that includes a presumption in favour of development whilst protecting the countryside and enhancing the quality of the natural and built environment, which supports growth alongside regeneration, social and environmental sustainability, and has a greater emphasis on the quality of design.’
Dealing with applications quickly is vital, said Mr Gallagher, and to that end he has worked since his appointment to bring down turnaround times. Between January and March this year 90 per cent of applications were approved within eight weeks, compared with 73 per cent in April to June 2011. He also pointed out the vast majority of applications (there are around 1,800 a year) are approved, averaging around 85 per cent for the last two years. Planning is also working more closely with the Department of Economic Development to encourage potential investors and developers to have pre-application discussions.
There are interesting times ahead for Mr Gallagher’s team, not least in the coming month as Tynwald prepares to vote on changes to the rules on development not requiring planning permission, plus there is the planned introduction of a new interactive house on the planning website which will allow potential applicants to click on a particular area to find out what permission is needed to carry out work on it.