BROMSGROVE District Council's chief executive has defended the authority's planning service following a threat by the Government to place it in special measures.

A letter defending the service has been written by chief executive Kevin Dicks, which has been sent to the director of planning at the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

The move is being considered as the council was ranked the joint slowest in the country last year, in determining major planning applications.

The Government sets a target of 13 weeks for major planning applications to be determined, and authorities failing to consistently deliver this can be considered for special measures.

It the Government go-ahead with the move it would be a blow to the council as it would mean major applications could be submitted directly to the Planning Inspectorate rather than being determined locally.

In the letter Mr Dicks points out the authority has adopted a new way of working through the transformation process which was in fact providing better customer service for planning applicants.

He added it was a robust approach as officers are able to spend more time with applicants at the start of the planning process, leading to an 11 per cent increase of applications being granted - from 80 per cent to 91 per cent in the last year.

Councillor Kit Taylor, whose portfolio covers planning, said: “Through the transformation process, we have adopted a new and robust way of working.

"I am confident our position will continue to improve into the future – results which can already be demonstrated.

“What isn’t reflected in the figures that the DCLG are considering is that our way of working leads to better customer satisfaction and less officers time being wasted on the same applications coming round and round again in the system.

“We are concentrating on what matters to the customer not hitting some arbitrary Government target. I just hope the DCLG is sensible enough to see the innovative approach we are adopting.”

Councillor Luke Mallett, leader of the opposition Labour group on the authority, said: "However you dress this up it is not good news for residents - the backlogs and delays mean we are the slowest performing planning department in the country.

"It is flabbergasting that the Conservative administration, who spent millions on consultants to come up with the grand transformation projects, are trying to claim the abject failure of our planning system as a success.

"The council's leadership have put planning in Bromsgrove into chaos at massive cost to the taxpayer, and now risk putting the council back into special measures."

A spokesman for Bromsgrove District Council added that the Government had given the authority no timescale as to when a decision will be made.