Agenda item

The Development Management and Land Charges Manager presented the report to the Committee.

A review had been undertaken from March 2026 to June 2026 into the Council’s procedure for advertising planning applications in the press to ensure the Council was making effective, cost-efficient use of its resources when publicising planning applications.

At the time of the meeting, the Council published press notices for qualifying applications shortly after registration.  Notices were placed in local newspapers depending on the location of the development (incl. the Derbyshire Times, Mansfield Chad and Worksop Guardian) with the process administered on behalf of the Council by Derbyshire County Council.

The Council had allocated an annual budget of £36,000 for press advertisements, with each advertisement typically costing between £300 and £800 (dependant on the publication and the size of the advertisement).

Analysis had identified that between 2023 and 2025, approximately 50 advertisements were placed in the press each calendar year, and this relatively low volume reflected the limited number of applications that fell within the statutory categories requiring newspaper publication.

The analysis had additionally highlighted the potential inefficiency of the current approach, where often large and single notices were placed in the press.

The Council’s current practice was to not advertise developments that represented a departure from the provisions of the development plan at the point of registration – only where such development was likely to be supported / approved by the Committee would such publicity be undertaken, which could result in determination delays.

Benchmarking with other lower-tier local authorities had been made, identifying a consistent approach of consolidating planning applications into a single press advertisement, enabling cost-efficiency savings.

The adoption of a similar approach (reducing the amount of information published within a single notice and publishing on a 2-week cycle) would reduce the number of advertisements required annually, reduce the size and cost of individual advertisements, and enable more efficient use of the allocated budget.

It was noted in the report that maintaining the existing arrangement with Derbyshire County Council would likely remain advantageous as it enabled access to significant discounts that may not be otherwise available and maintain established working relationships and administrative processes.

The review had identified clear opportunities to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the Council’s approach to advertising planning applications in the press.

The review confirmed that while the Council’s current procedures complied with

statutory requirements, there was significant scope to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

By adopting similar approaches already in use by other lower-tier local authorities and maintaining existing partnerships, the Council could deliver a more streamlined, cost-effective and responsive planning service.

To a question on whether review of the proposed approach would continue and consideration be given to utilising a marketing company, the Development Management and Land Charges Manager informed that this would be kept under review, though current arrangements remained both cost effective and, as the report confirmed, maintained the established working relationships and administrative processes with Derbyshire County Council.  It was confirmed that any further changes would be brought before Committee for both scrutiny and approval.

To a question on the appropriateness of moving to the proposed fortnightly publication, the Development Management and Land Charges Manager informed the Council that this would not curtail the amount of time that the public would have to comment on the application as the publicity period ran from the last method of publicity.  The only implications would be officers having less time to determine an application after the publicity period, however, due to the small number of applications requiring a press advertisement and these being published 2+ weeks after registrations, this was not foreseen as a significant issue.

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Phil Smith

RESOLVED that the Development Management Team: 1)Adopts a condensed but transparent and informative advertising approach, listing multiple planning applications within a single press notice as set out in Appendix 2;

2)    Introduces a two-week publication cycle for press advertisements;

3)    Includes applications that depart from the development plan in press notices at the point of registration, rather than retrospectively.

4)    Continues to utilise Derbyshire County Council for the placement of press advertisements in order to benefit from discounted rates and maintain partnership working, and;

5)    Keeps under review the potential use of external marketing companies, but only where clear financial or operational advantages can be demonstrated.