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Search the Public Notice Portal A resident trying for two months to discuss an application with planners wants the situation to improve.
Marcus Stapley raised the issue of being able to talk to officers and discuss his case before putting a planning application.
It used to be possible to get pre-planning advice, he asked in a questions-to-Cabinet session.
Calderdale Council’s Planning Department has improved since extra investment – issues included staffing being under-strength, requiring a significant amount of funding – was found four years ago.
Calderdale’s planning service performs strongly against national measures for both the speed and quality of decision-making, comparing favourably with many local authorities, senior councillors say.
But Mr Stapley felt more needs to be done.
At May’s elections, Reform UK took control of the council from Labour.
Mr Stapley asked Cabinet councillors: “What are the new council’s plans to improve Calderdale’s Planning Department?
“Are there any plans to bring back pre-planning advice applications?
“I have been trying to discuss this with the council for almost two months with no response – an answer would be excellent.”
Responding, Councillor Keith Ingle said there were financial challenges but it could be looked into.
Cllr Ingle (Reform UK, Halifax Town) said the council was always looking for ways to improve its planning service, though he would need more specific details about the case.
There were financial challenges, balancing increasing legislative and policy requirements, growing expectations from applicants, communities and consultees and ongoing recruitment and retention pressure where staff were concerned.
“Despite these challenges the service continues to determine a significant volume of applications and plays a key role in supporting investment, housing delivery and economic growth across the borough.
“We would, however, welcome specific examples of areas of areas of concern and would be more than happy to investigate where improvements may be required and consider how the service could be strengthened further,” he said.
Cllr Ingle said regarding any plans to re-introduce pre-application advice that the council does have a pre-application advice service and a bespoke planning performance agreement service for major developments.
“The potential re-introduction of a pre-application service for non-major proposals has been raised by a number of stakeholders and will certainly be considered as part of future service planning, taking into account wider priorities and resource availability,” he said.