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Yvette Cooper
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The final allocations for a £135 million cash injection into the planning system has been announced by Housing and Planning Minister, Yvette Cooper
The funding continues the Government's drive to create a more efficient and effective planning system and rewards local authorities for improved performance.
The Planning Delivery Grant is helping to make a real difference to performance, with the number of local authorities meeting the targets increasing by over 30 percentage points for major applications.
The measures had been set out in the Government's response to Kate Barker's review of housing which was commissioned by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.
Ms Cooper said: "We are committed to supporting planners as they strive to improve the planning system and deliver sustainable communities. We need to build more homes if we are to make housing more affordable for future generations and we know our planners are at the heart of making this happen.
"It is great that local planning authorities are already improving their performance. However, there is still a challenge for authorities to deal with applications more efficiently whilst ensuring they make the right decision for their community. I congratulate those who have done well this year. I hope others will follow in their footsteps and help create a truly first- planning system."
89% of the £135 million grant is allocated directly to local planning authorities.
Grant allocation criteria are set for progress in online planning, plan-making performance, speed of handling planning applications, increasing housing stock provision in areas of high need and supporting local authorities with issues of low demand for housing.
Top allocations go to local authorities who have performed well in all areas and improved on their performance from last year.
Authorities are expected to continue to maintain or improve high levels of performance to be rewarded further funding.
Support is available to all authorities from the Planning Advisory Service, which provides advice, guidance and best practice.
