Council Hit By Criticism Again - Official watchdog releases second "damning report"

12.00.00am GMT Sat 22nd Mar 2003

This is the headline from the front page of the Kent and Sussex Courier dated Friday 21 March 2003. The report said that the Planning Department at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has been criticised by government inspectors for being slow, wasting money and lacking direction:

Costs were almost double the national average; and

The time taken to determine planning applications was 20% greater than the national average.

In the Courier, Tunbridge Wells MP, Archie Norman, was quoted as saying: "The findings of the report are a wake-up call for the Council"; and David Coleman, Chairman of the Kent Association of Parish Councils was quoted as saying: "The Borough Council knows that it must make drastic improvements – not just in Planning but right across the board". Little seems to have changed since the Audit Commission made some very critical comments, in 2000, on the Waste Management and Street Cleansing Service.

"The sense of complacency …. is a barrier to any fundamental …. change. The Council still does not use public consultation effectively; and it does not have a co-ordinated and comprehensive improvement plan."