NEW figures show that Trafford Council is one place off rock bottom when it comes to making planning decisions promptly.

For the current 'Council of the Year' come in thirty fifth out of 36 local metropolitan authorities polled for a recent planning performance league table.

Out of over 1,600 decisions made by planning chiefs at Trafford over the twelve months to March 31 just over 39 per cent were decided within the eight weeks recommended by the Government - one of only 13 authorities nationally with figures less than 40 per cent.

Although this compares favourably to last September's total of 35 per cent it is not enough to stop the council slipping a place from their previous position.

Figures for commercial and industrial applications alone saw just 32 per cent of the 480 decisions within the recommended limit with only North Tyneside performing worse.

The results, published by the Department of Environment, are produced every six months to enable people to see at a glance how quickly their local planning authority is reaching decisions.

Each authority throughout the country is ranked according to their current performance against the Government's target that 80 per cent of decisions should be made within eight weeks of the application being submitted.

Planning Minister Nick Raynsford commenting on the figures said: "Too many local authorities are still failing to approach let alone deliver the Government's target and this must change.

"On average 62 per cent of planning decisions were made within eight weeks by local authorities - leaving those with less than 40 per cent still some way to go to improve their services."

Director of planning at Trafford council, Angus McIntyre was unavailable for comment as SUM went to press but a spokesman said: "The Director is currently in discussions with the chair of the planning committee and until these have concluded we cannot comment."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.