Dorset Council says it is now back within the government guidelines as far as land charge requests are concerned – within ten working days.

A year ago, the average amount of time to return these searches had risen to 62 days, the delay caused by the huge surge in the housing market coupled with staff vacancies.

Over the last 12 months staff vacancies have been filled and the Planning Convergence and Transformation project has moved all planning work onto one system. This has meant that the team are all on the same system, and some tasks have been automated. The next step in the project will transform the service to modernise and create an interactive customer-facing system that makes it easier for residents and councillors to understand more about planning and feel involved in the development of their local area.

Cllr Jill Haynes, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Corporate Development and Transformation, said: “This is an incredible achievement when over the last three years we’ve received almost double the number of land charge searches that we normally manage, and the number of requests continue to be high.

“I am very grateful for all the hard work that the staff have put in and we continue to work to keep the time that searches take within Government guidelines.

“It is good news for anyone buying or selling their property, which we know can be a stressful time.”

The turnaround time for planning validations has also decreased with most being returned within five days. This has also been a result of filling vacancies, being on one system and streamlining processes.