This week's Councillor Column is written by Councillor David Kinniburgh, policy lead for planning

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Each year all local authorities across Scotland have to submit a document to the Scottish Government called the Planning Performance Framework. This is the principal performance measure for development management and development policy within planning and regulatory services.

Argyll and Bute Council recently received positive feedback from the Scottish Government on their sixth Planning Performance Framework (PPF) document which, over and above simply reporting performance, demonstrates our ‘open for business’ approach by promoting our local areas by incorporating customer feedback and providing case studies of developments for previous years and showcasing the positive economic contribution that Planning Services have made within Argyll and Bute.

The latest PPF, covering the period from April 2016 to March 2017, was recently presented to the planning, protective services and licensing (PPSL) committee, and of the 15 key performance markers used by the Scottish Government to assess an authority’s performance, Argyll and Bute had 11 green and three amber markers.

Some of the issues considered in the key performance markers are early collaboration with applicants and consultees, how up to date the local development plan is, a development plan scheme to deliver the next local development plan, and corporate working across services.

The full PPF document submitted can be found at argyll-bute.gov.uk/sites/default/files/abcppf2017submissionamended.pdf

An issue that is raised on a regular basis with me is the use of unauthorised signage in town centres within Argyll and Bute.

Last September the PPSL adopted a new ‘advertisement a signage policy technical working note’ after a public consultation, a case study of which can be found in the PPF mentioned earlier.

In addition to adopting the technical working note The committee also identified that resources for the enforcement of advertising ‘A-boards’ should, in the first instance, focus on the town centres of Helensburgh, Dunoon and Oban.

It was expected that a project plan would have been presented to the committee in December or January. However initial survey work undertaken during the winter period has raised concern that it is not reflective of the scale of the issue during the summer months, and it is now intended to undertake baseline surveys during late spring and prepare a project plan for consideration by the PPSL in the late summer this year.