Our planning committee has approved a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) Charter. The charter explains the purpose of PPAs and how we intend them to be used. It sets out  how the council, developers and statutory consultees involved in such an agreement would be expected to contribute to the handling of major and complex development proposals.

 PPAs are about improving the quality of planning applications and the decision making process through collaboration. They bring together the Local Planning Authority (LPA), developer and key stakeholders from an early stage to work together in partnership thoughout all stages of the planning process. The potential benefits of an agreement  are:

• Providing certainty for all development partners (the council, developer, elected members and the community) in terms of an agreed timetable for the handling of complex major projects
• Nomination of a project lead on behalf of both the council and developer to take forward the major development proposals in accordance with the agreed timetable
• Providing certainty about the requirements for processing large scale complex applications
• Clarifying the means of engagement and consultation with the local community, in accordance with the Statement for Community Involvement
• Establishing a clear framework for the delivery of the complex major projects  

The planning committee approved the Charter in December 2009.