HIGH staff turnover, disjointed team meetings, poor communication and a lack of formal training are negatively impacting Powys County Council’s planning service, Audit Wales have said.
Audit Wales has provided a list of nine recommendations that they expect the authority to address over the next year following a review that took place last year.
The report explains that in 2021 the planning department reviewed itself following staff restructuring that had taken place in 2019 and 2020.
Audit Wales said: “The planning service is experiencing a high turnover of staff which creates instability and increased workloads for the remaining officers.
“The restructure and review failed to tackle the fundamental issues in governance and workforce to sustainably improve its performance.
“The main reasons for the restructure were to address savings targets.
“We were told that a number of experienced planning officers left the service as an impact of the restructure.
“Many of the new planners that joined the service at that time have also subsequently left. ”
Audit Wales said that the council is “missing vital insights” by not understanding why these planning officers have left Powys.
Audit Wales have also pointed out that staff are working in “siloes” and that team meetings and communication within the department are “underdeveloped”.
“It is concerning that the service does not already have regular team meetings that incorporate learning and the sharing of planning knowledge.”
“It is the responsibility of the planning service to have effective and ongoing training and support for its officers to avoid the need to change decisions and for officers, particularly new officers, to feel supported in their roles.”