Cookstown District Council

Living in Cookstown

Building Control

Policy, Standards and Performance

Policy, Standards and Performance

Many of the functions falling within the responsibility of the Building Control Department are undertaken in accordance with Policy Statements approved by the Council.

 (1) Building Regulations

The council approved a policy statement for the building regulations service each year (Building Regulations Policy) and also sets performance indicators.  Together with a 'code of practice' this is the method used to demonstrate compliance with the requirement in The Local Government (Best Value) Act 2002 for continuous improvement in the way in which the service is provided. Details of the departments building regulation workload are given in the following table:

Workload Analysis

Details

2007/2008

2006/2007

 

Full Plans Applications received
Building Notices received
Reg. Cert. Applications received
Total no. Of Applications received

523
271 
41
835

504
293
49
846

Full Plans Applications approved
Reg. Cert. Applications approved
Total no. Of Applications approved

512
40
552

399
39
438 

Full Plans Applications rejected
Full Plans Applications withdrawn
Reg. Cert. Applications rejected / withdrawn

89
-
- 

35
-
5

Work started (domestic)
Work started (non-domestic)
Total no. Of starts

735
57
792

834
61
895

Work completed (domestic)
Work completed (non-domestic)
Total no. Of completions

500
41
541

535
20
 555

Number of Inspections (domestic)
Number of Inspections (non-domestic)
Total no. Of Inspections

3234
257
3491

3879
325
4222

Note:  Number of inspections in respect of non-domestic applications represents 7.4% of total.

Included in our performance indicators are standards/target in relation to response times.  We consider 'first response time' and 'subsequent response time'.

 By ‘first response time’ we mean the time taken from the date of receipt of a valid application until the issue of either a ‘Notice of Passing of Building Regulation Plans’ or a notification detailing those matters in respect of which additional and/or amended information is required to show compliance with the regulations.

 By ‘subsequent response time’ we mean the time taken from the date of receipt of amended plans or additional information until the issue of either an approval or a further notification detailing matters still outstanding.

 The following table includes details of the standards/targets set for ‘first response’ times and actual response times achieved.

The DoE sets performances indicators and while these are less onerous than the standards we set our performance as measured against those standards is also included.

                      Full plans: domestic applications Full plans: non-domestic applications
   Target Standard Achieved   Target Standard Achieved
 CDC  95% within 14 days 63.0%  95% within 14 days 45.5%
 DoE  100% within 21 days 76.7%  100% within 35 days 61.8%

With regard to subsequent response times our standard was to achieve 90% within 10 calendar days. We actually achieved 48.7% with the average response time being 15.4 calendar days.

(2) Property Certificates

Applications for Property Certificates are dealt with in accordance with agreed procedures see Property Certificate Procedures. Our aim is to issue a Property certificate within 10 calendar days (seven working days) from the date of receipt. For the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 we achieved this standard in respect of 92.8% of applications received. (Average number of calendar days to action was 5.6).

(3) Licensing of Places of Entertainment

The Policy under which this function is administered can be viewed at (Entertainment Policy).

(4) Petrol-spirit Licensing

The Policy under which this function is administered can be viewed at (Petroleum-Spirit Policy).

(5) Naming of Streets

The Policy under which this function is administered can be viewed at (Naming of Streets Policy).