North Ayrshire Council’s planning team continue to provide a fast and effective service.

That was the verdict after the Council’s planning processes and policies were given a thorough review.

All 32 Scottish local authorities are asked to produce an ‘annual return’ each year monitoring themselves against key performance indicators.

North Ayrshire has now approved its Planning Performance Framework which will be submitted to the Scottish Government.

The report shows that it takes North Ayrshire Council 13.3 weeks to process planning applications for major developments – a massive improvement on the previous year’s figure of 26.7 weeks and significantly faster than the latest Scottish average of 34.2 weeks

The average time to give decisions on local developments has remained steady at 5.9 weeks and decisions on householder developments has reduced slightly to 4.6 weeks, with 100 per cent being determined within two months.

In what has been a successful 12 months, the Planning Service picked up awards at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning for Saltcoats Town Hall and Meikle Auchengree.

And just this month, the service was commended at the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Awards for Planning Excellence for its work on Saltcoats Town Hall.

Councillor Alex Gallagher, Cabinet Member for Economy, said: “Our planning service deserves huge credit for their consistently high levels of performance.

“While the planning process can be sometimes be complex, these figures show we are making great strides in simplifying the process while ensuring its remains effective.

“However, we will not rest on our laurels and will continue to focus on providing the best possible service for both people and businesses.”