By Rory Butler
A second council has suspended building control applications due to a serious shortage of qualified staff, it has emerged.
City of York Council’s building control department has placed a warning on its website that building inspections are currently unavailable, citing a significant backlog of work and serious staff shortages.
“We’re sorry, due to resourcing issues and a significant backlog of work, you can expect our building control work and related communications to be delayed,” the council said in an online statement.
“As we’re currently unable to process building control submissions, we recommend choosing another building control service provider.”
CN previously reported that Chelmsford City Council had suspended building inspections and frozen new building control applications because of a lack of qualified staff.
The pauses follow recent problems with the Building Safety Regulator. Earlier this week, the government said it was putting the organisation under new control to help it clear a backlog in applications.
CN approached City of York Council for comment.
Geoff Wilkinson, managing director of Wilkinson Construction Consultants, told Construction News’ sister title Architects Journal that several other councils could be “on the brink” of having to withdraw building control applications.
He put this down to a lack of properly qualified inspectors available, not only to conduct site visits, but also to supervise the more numerous class one trainee inspectors who cannot work independently.
Many councils are struggling to effectively process planning applications amid widespread industry regulatory backlogs.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) report last month found that 13 councils were underperforming according to the government’s special measures programme for the quality of planning decision-making.
The underperforming councils are:
- Lewes
- Dartmoor National Park
- Three Rivers
- Staffordshire Moorlands
- Basildon
- Epping Forest
- Folkestone & Hythe
- Hertsmere
- Watford
- East Hampshire
- Hinkley & Bosworth
- Wyre Forest
Meanwhile, two councils have already had their planning function taken over by the planning inspectorate: Lewes for underperforming in the quality of its planning decision-making, and Bristol for the number of non-major development decisions that fall outside of the statutory period.
Last year, the BBC reported a joint statement from Lewes Council’s Green leader Zoe Nicholson and Labour cabinet member for planning Laurence O’Connor saying: “This council has stood up against housebuilders and their pursuit of profit in our district, rejecting planning applications that would turn green space into concrete and offer next to nothing for local people in real need of a home.”
Bristol Council’s director economy of place Alex Hearn petitioned the government earlier this year to come out of special measures, the third time the council had made the request since its designation in March 2024.
As reported by Bristol Live, Hearn said: “So at the third time of asking, we shall see whether formal de-designation will occur.
“An enormous amount of progress has been made and there’s always improvements to make, particularly in a service like planning, where every part of the city has an interest in.”
The issues that councils are facing are likely the result of a lack of qualified staff and increased hiring costs coupled with stretched funding, rather than an influx of applications.
MHCLG figures show that the number of submitted planning applications has, in fact, fallen year-on-year since 2021.
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