Westminster City Council is the slowest of all inner London boroughs at handling planning applications and is among the worst performing in the country.
Across London, councils manage to consider 91% of planning applications within a 13-week deadline, while at Westminster only 75% are considered during the period.
The lacklustre results were revealed in the latest annual update from Westminster’s planning and city development committee.
Of 330 planning authorities across the country, Westminster is ranked 298th.
Despite its performance, Westminster has outperformed the thresholds set by the ministry for housing, communities and local government. These stipulate that 60% of major applications should be decided within 13 weeks, rising to 70% for non-major schemes. The government body also insists that no more than 10% of decisions are appealed.
While Westminster’s major decisions have climbed a percentage point during the pandemic – up from 74% at the same point last year – non-major decisions appear to have been put to one side, with the council only just meeting the 70% target with a 71.7% rate.
Westminster said the reason for its performance was due to the “high volume of major applications”. However, comparative data from other London boroughs shows Westminster received fewer than those that performed better.
During the 24 months ending 31 March this year, 84 major applications were lodged with Westminster, of which 63 were decided within the 13-week target.
However, Wandsworth and Southwark each received 86, with Wandsworth deciding 96% within the deadline and Southwark 92%. Tower Hamlets, which received the most major applications of any London borough at 97, decided more than 90% of its applications on time.
Its record on non-major applications was also well below the London average of 84.7%, with only Kensington & Chelsea behind it on the leader board on 70.5%.
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