Council launches Online Planning System
Friday, June 9 2006
Members of the public can now view planning applications and all related documents on their home computers, thanks to the launch of an Online Planning System by Scottish Borders Council.
The new system, part of SBC's E-Planning project, allows anyone with access to the Internet to view details of planning applications and associated documents, such as application forms, drawings and decision notices. The public can also use the system to submit comments online, view weekly lists, search for properties and view maps.
The Online Planning system is reached through SBC's corporate website www.scotborders.gov.uk
"Online Planning makes it much simpler for members of the public to see what is actually being proposed in individual planning
applications," said Ian Lindley, SBC Director of Planning and Economic Development.
"For local people who do not have access to the Internet, copies of planning documents can still be seen at public libraries,
Area Planning Offices, local SBC Contact Centres and Council HQ."
SBC's E-Planning project reflects well at a national level because it gives the Council more points towards meeting the Pendleton
criteria - a method of evaluating local authorities' planning websites.
"We have now achieved 16 out of a maximum of 21 Pendleton points," explained Eric Wardle, Programme Manager for SBC's Planning & Economic Development Department. "This achievement was reached through the commitment, knowledge and expertise of many staff, without which it could not have been done. My thanks go to each one of them. We are on track to achieve 19 out of 21 points by December which will put us amongst the leaders in this field in Scotland."
The end goal of the project is to enable the public to submit Planning and Building Standards applications electronically, and pay for them electronically.
To set up the On-line Planning system for planning applications and related documents, SBC staff had to establish a number of key software components:
* A scanning bureau - to allow all paper documents to be converted into electronic format.
* A document management system (DMS) - to store all the electronic documents and make them available to all internal planning staff including area offices.
* A web access module - to take documents from the DMS and serve them up to the public upon request.
* A PublicAccess system - to extract details of planning applications from the back office system (Uniform) and link to the web access module. This is the public-facing part of the system.
If you would like to see what has been achieved so far, please visit the following link:
http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/life/planningandbuilding/13486.html
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