NEW ONLINE PLANNING SYSTEM FOR SOUTHWARK
A NEW online planning system to improve the way members of the public, developers and other organisations can access and make comments on thousands of applications begins at Southwark council on February 11th.
The new Idox Public Access system will make it easier and more efficient to process around 600 comments the council gets each week from residents and other interested parties on a variety of planning applications, said a Southwark spokesperson.
“It also complements work that has already been done to make it easier for people to keep track of developments in their neighbourhoods, such as Southwark Maps” they added.
Cllr Mark Williams, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “Southwark is a dynamic and evolving borough and the council is often dealing with a wide range of planning applications, from multi-million pound regeneration and development schemes like Elephant Park and Canada Water, to residents’ own home improvements, conservatories and extensions.
“Making access to these as simple and straightforward as possible is essential to ensure people feel informed and able to get involved in decisions that affect their neighbourhoods.
“In addition, we want to be able to work more efficiently to make the planning process smoother and more effective for everyone involved.”
Southwark say some of the improvements include the system updating information every 24 hours.
“Comments can be made directly from the webpage using an online form and transferred directly to the system rather than having to be imputed in by hand and users can create their own log in and get notifications when there are changes to applications they are tracking” they added.
The new system will be available directly form the council’s planning pages of the website at www.southwark.gov.uk/planning (Source: Southwark council press release)