Planning ICT review

The project issues
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council wanted a systematic review of its Planning ICT systems and processes to identify priority areas for improvement, including strategy development and management, staff responsibilities and systems upgrade and integration. Socitm Consulting was asked to undertake a review and make recommendations for improvement based on best practice.

The Socitm Consulting solution
We began by holding a series of interviews with key staff from the Planning and ICT Departments. We also held two workshops with Planning and Building Control officers and administrative staff. We undertook a systematic review of all Council ICT systems that are relevant for Planning processes, including the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), GIS, EDRM and CRM systems and and used the Socitm software survey data to benchmark their efficiency against peer organisations employing similar systems.

From this, we wrote a report, which included the following recommendations, and an Action Plan to prioritise their implementation:

• The rationalisation and updating of the LLPG. This was an urgent requirement to enable the Council to meet the deadline for the new British Standard. It will also provide customers with full electronic access to planning documents, applications and consultations and significantly improve the efficiency of processing planning applications
• The integration of Southend’s CRM, EDRM and Development and Building Control systems to enable more efficient data retrieval, display and handling of customer planning enquiries by front desk staff
• The updating of the Planning web pages to make documents available online as part of the wider goal of providing customers with electronic access to planning data 
• An internal review of the EDRMS by Planning staff to assess its fitness for purpose and make recommendations for improvement
• A review of the need for GIS implementation and available management and maintenance resource

The benefits to the client
By drawing on our expertise in Planning ICT best practice, the Council was supported in updating and integrating its Planning ICT strategy. As a result, its Planning ICT systems and internal and customer-facing processes will be simpler and more efficient, ensuring more effective delivery of services to customers. 

Project identification
Client organisation: Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Client contact: Steve Kearney, Head of Planning and Transport, 01702 215408, stevekearney@southend.gov.uk
Lead consultant: mark.stoneham@socitm.gov.uk
Project no: 6159