Advice on Maximising your Pendleton Score

This section contains general observations and advice for LPA's based on our experience of previous surveys and the results of the May Monitoring Survey. Click on a individual headings to see the advice or scroll down to read the whole document.

Out-of-Date Information

Accessibility

Web Links

Accuracy

Quality

Out-of-Date Information
At time of the May 2005 Pendleton Survey there were at least 120 local authorities in England and Wales displaying out-of-date information on their planning websites, for which Pendleton points could not be awarded. Information that is more than one week out of date will not be awarded the relevant Pendleton point. The most common out-of-date information was committee schedules, minutes and reports, application registers and associated application documents.

Information that is not kept up to date is effectively no use to the user and points for these criteria cannot be awarded. Some authorities may therefore be awarded a lower score in the December 2005 survey than the May 2005 survey. From the perspective of the user - and for the purpose of this survey - upkeep of the existing online planning services is as important as the development of new services and PPA strongly encourages local authorities to regularly maintain their planning web pages.

Accessibility
Planning websites should clearly advise the user where and how to locate their planning services. At the time of the May 2005 survey 130 local authorities in England and Wales did not have links from their planning web pages to the planning committee pages. We recommend that local authorities periodically review their website structure and content to ensure that it is clear, navigable and user friendly.

There has been a welcomed growth in the number of authorities providing details of individual appeal cases online. However, appeal information is often difficult to locate, particularly when presented within planning committee minutes with no facility to enable the user to filter details of appeal cases by address, application number or appeal number. Users are often required to manually scroll through the minutes to locate an appeal case. Where appeal information is buried within committee minutes, PPA cannot guarantee that the information will be located and the point awarded. Authorities are encourages to clearly specify how appeal information is accessed.

A small number of authorities restrict access to planning/application records for certain time periods outside regular office hours, often due to system constraints. One of the benefits of an online planning system is that customers can access information at any time, from any location. Whilst it is not a requirement of the Pendleton Criteria, we strongly encourage authorities to aim to provide a 24-hour online service.

Web Links
Many local authorities provide links to external planning websites, offering planning services on behalf of the council - e.g. online planning applications, planning guidance, interactive proposals maps and application/decision registers. In such cases, the Pendleton criteria require that the council planning web pages clearly inform the user how to access these external sites and specify the nature of the information available. A logo alone is not sufficient to be awarded the Pendleton point(s). Local authorities offering planning services via an external website should ensure that the link between the external provider and council planning pages is accessible and accompanied by a clear explanation of the services available.

Accuracy
In some cases information about online planning services provided on a Council's planning web pages/ linked external website did not accurately reflect the services that were available. Councils should be careful that their online guidance accurately reflects the services that are available, particularly as the services become more sophisticated. For example, council planning guidance often states that comments about planning applications have to be submitted to the council in writing (giving a postal address only), yet users could in fact submit comments electronically. Commonly, councils fail to make clear on their sites when PDF weekly lists of planning applications had been superseded by an interactive database or when the two are presented concurrently. Where contradictory information is given on a website, PPA cannot guarantee that the relevant points will be awarded. Some authorities are therefore missing out on Pendleton points for failing to update their planning guidance to reflect the new services. PPA encouraged authorities to ensure that the information provided on their web pages is accurate and consistent.

In a number of instances local authority websites carry disclaimers stating that services provided on or on behalf of their site should not be considered accurate or reliable. In some cases Councils requested that users phone the planning department to confirm the accuracy of the information displayed on their own website. One of the major benefits for the local authority is the opportunity to reduce administrative functions. However, an online planning service is only useful to the user if it is reliable and the user has confidence in the service they receive.

Quality
Emails have been received from a relatively small but significant number of authorities indicating that they are seeking to find the minimum requirement to fulfill the criteria points in time for the forthcoming survey. This 'tick-box' approach to providing online planning services is discouraged as it tends to result in an overall poorer quality of service and often neglects to consider the customer when designing and implementing the service. This approach is a short-term solution rather than a long-term commitment to improving and maintaining online planning services for customers. The Pendleton Survey focuses not only on councils fulfilling each criterion but the continued provision and maintenance of their planning services for their customers.

Based on the findings from the pending December 2005 website survey, PPA intends to present a 'best practice' guide highlighting some examples of excellent web design and user-friendly and accessible planning service solutions. To be selected as a 'best practice' example it is not necessary for an authority to score 21 points, but the service provided must be of a high quality, usability and usefulness.