Calderdale Council’s planning services are back on track after a tough few years which included being threatened with Government intervention, councillors heard.

Michael Gove – the then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities – wrote to the council in 2023 giving it a month to improve what he described then as a “very poor quality” planning service.

He warned then that the planning department’s performance did not get better, he would have to intervene.

Investment in the service since 2021 has helped the services change considerable, scrutiny councillors have now been told.

A marker it is making the right decisions is a performance measure which analyses how many decisions the council make which are overturned on appeal.

Head of planning, Richard Seaman, said if it is more than 10 per cent, the Government will have authorities in their sights but in Calderdale it is less than 0.5 per cent.

The council’s planners are now processing applications in a timely manner and making inroads into remaining backlogs, place scrutiny board councillors heard.

Councillors had previously heard the pre-2021 problems were due in large part to staff cuts made in recent years as the council balanced its budget.

Workload had increased over the same period with development of the draft Local Plan running alongside regular services.

Cabinet investment in the service led to recruitment and improving digital technology to help improve the service.

It now has an annual budget of £1.89m.

The Local Plan, adopted by the council in 2023 had also given the council up-to-date policies to work with, said Mr Seaman.

The directorate now has the equivalent of 58.35 full time members of staff.

In the calendar year 2024, the council received 1,525 planning and related applications, up from 1,472 the previous year, of which 36 were classed as “major” and 513 were householder applications.

Planners dealt with 28 pre-application inquiries about major development and handled 65 planning appeals.

In all, 489 enforcement files were opened – 20 planning contravention notices, seven enforcement notices and one breach of condition notice being served.

The team carried out 5,219 site inspections, looked into 124 incidences of dangerous building and structures, undertook seven board-ups of unsecured premises and dealt with 19 applications for demolition of buildings.