North Yorkshire Council is stepping up planning enforcement efforts in the former Scarborough Borough Council area despite a shortage of planners.
North Yorkshire Council says it is meeting national targets for dealing with planning applications despite not having enough planning officers.
Councillor Mark Crane says 77 percent of major planning applications are dealt with within the 13 week target, well above the government's 60 percent target, despite the council being 15 staff members short.
"We are still significant number of planners down and , we are not alone in that.
I think every adjacent authority has a shortage of planners as well. As far as I'm aware.
So the targets are government set and we are adhering to them, and , we are exceeding them. We are planners down, so clearly things are not so easy."
The Council says it is also stepping up it's planning enforcement efforts in the former Scarborough Borough Council area.
Councillor Crane says the authority is making efforts to improve its enforcement action taken against breaches of planning rules.
"There were a couple of previous district areas where enforcement was not a high priority.
We have taken those areas on and we have done I think, some very good work there.
Of course, the other thing that's happened is where people become aware that suddenly we are taking enforcement action, more cases come in.
So we've seen a significant rise in cases in two, previous areas. I won't name them, but one of them is very close to the sea."
A report on the council’s performance during the first quarter of the financial year showed the authority was completing 77.2 per cent of major planning applications within the target time against a statutory target of 60 per cent.
In the same period, the council dealt with 78.28 per cent of minor applications within the required time.
Major planning applications should be decided within 13 weeks, or 16 weeks if an environmental impact assessment is required.
Minor applications should be determined within eight weeks.
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