3Following the progress of planning applications submitted to Tewkesbury Borough Council will be much easier thanks to a new planning application tracker.
The tracker will help people stay up-to-date with applications as they progress through the stages of the planning application process, from ‘application received’ to ‘decision made’. It is directly linked to the council’s planning department’s database, so is updated as soon as an application reaches the next stage in the process.
The tracker is fully accessible to the general public, and both applicants and members of the public with an interest in following the progress of an application can sign up to receive live updates via email or text message.
The creation of the tracker was made possible thanks to a successful funding bid made to the government’s Department for Levelling Up and Housing Communities to improve the council’s development management software.
The introduction of the tracker will complement Public Access – the council’s existing online database that allows members of the public to view planning documents and submit online comments. However, the new tracker’s interface has been specifically designed for people who have limited experience following the progress of planning applications and will help them to easily identify key dates in the application process.
Tewkesbury Borough Council’s lead member for Commercial Transformation, Councillor Mike Sztymiak, said: “We are constantly striving to make our online systems as user-friendly as possible, and our customers will certainly find it a lot easier to follow any planning application with our new tracking software in place.
“This is merely phase one of the tracker – our aim is to provide updates on more detailed steps in the application process and we will shortly be asking for feedback from our customers to help us achieve this.”
The tracker can be accessed via the council’s website.
