The Business Problem
While no one is quite sure how the new government directives on planning applications will turn out, the increasing emphasis on the Local Planning Authorities to speed up the decision-making process on planning applications and improve the service to the public. Although many councils provide Internet access to planning applications, the limitations of the service has meant that a visit to the local planning offices has often still been necessary, lessening the e-services benefits for both the citizen and the Authority.

Chorley Borough Council is the first Local Authority to benefit from the ROCC PDF Tools Integration package from ROCC Computers. ROCC’s application automates the process of standardising plans to the PDF format. This means that a greater number of plans can be made available online and that accessibility is improved as anyone with the free Adobe Reader software can view them online. In addition, the functionalities for the user are extended to provide Measuring and Mark-up facilities. The Measuring tool enables an online user to accurately estimate distances and areas and annotate and print/save the image. The Mark-up facilities improve the ability to collaborate on the plan, whether by planning officers during the decision making process or by the public when commenting on a submitted plan.

“It is much better if our customers and the professional bodies we work with can actually get measurements online,” says Louise Taylor, Directorate Support Manager for Chorley Development and Regeneration. “The scaled drawings that we receive can be anything from A4 to A0 in size and the scale can be anywhere from 1/500 to 1/200. Sometimes we are dealing with professional consultees offering highway advice and sometimes it can be members of the public interested in a neighbour’s planning application. Very often, they want to know distances and areas of features.” Up until now, the fact that there were no measurements on the documents had actually prevented some consultees from using the online planning services. “We found that some people didn’t want electronic delivery because they couldn’t scale from the plans and pass them back to us with their comments,” says Louise. “In some cases,” Louise continues, “there can be as many as 25 statutory and non-statutory consultees who need to be approached, before a planning decision can be reached.”

The Council were keen to avoid using any software that required them to use hosted software, with the ongoing costs which that would entail.

The Solution - Software
To take advantage of the opportunity to engage more effectively and efficiently with their customers and professional bodies Chorley Borough Council purchased, from ROCC, enterprise class software from the Adobe LiveCycle suite of applications.

Adobe PDF Generator Pro to convert native application and industry standard file formats (such as scanned images, Microsoft Office files and CAD Drawings) into Adobe PDF files. Whilst ensuring compliant output to meet government regulations.

Adobe Reader Extension Server to enable the extra functionality within the PDF file, when opened in the free Acrobat Reader. The features include the ability to:

• Measure distance, area and perimeter to scale

• Review online and offline

• Add comments and mark up areas of interest

• Add attachments

• Save locally

• Return the document electronically

The Solution - Integration
“For us, it was very important that the whole system should be integrated,” says Louise. “One of the strengths of this solution is the way that it is populated, seamlessly, from the back-office software.”

The solution integrates Adobe modules PDF Generator and Reader Extensions with the authorities existing document management system ( Anite@work ). Chorley’s Planning and Building Control Department use Anite@work to manage the flow of documentation throughout the Planning and Building Regulation process.

ROCC through its’ long involvement in this project nationally, and its status as an Adobe Solutions Partner, developed the integration between the two Adobe package and the back office software to automate the whole process. Allowing single documents to thousands to be converted to PDF and have the additional functionality added without intervention at any one time.
As a consequence of this project and projects at a number of other Local Planning Authorities, ROCC has achieved the status of “Proven Supplier” for this solution with Planning Portal.

How this will help the Planning Office?
One of the big advantages for Chorley Council is the time they expect to gain by reducing the time that Council staff spends dealing face-to-face with customers with questions about planning applications. An integrated solution using enterprise class solution is key to this. There is a very significant benefit in reducing the amount of paper involved in passing entire planning applications to the Council’s consultees.

The Measuring tool and Mark-up capabilities really helps to simplify the administrative process because now, everyone can review the plans, including the detailed measurements, online. Up until now, this meant a trip to the planning office, but with the new system, professional users will be able to view the plans from their offices and members of the public can view them during the evening on their home computers, and they are available 24 hours a day. This is much better for members of the public who work and who cannot take time off to visit the planning office during the day time.

The initial response to PDF Tools at Chorley has been very positive and there is keen interest from other local authorities and bodies in the Lancashire region. The new system is also proving to of interest to a number of other departments within Chorley, such as the Conservation Department, and the Division that deals with contaminated land.

Chorley Council is also very pleased with the service received from ROCC. Lee Tomkins, e-planning Project Manager at Chorley stated "ROCC have partnered Chorley in the delivery of the Adobe Livecycle Planning solution for Planning and Building Control as part of our continuing drive to push e-services to the masses. The expertise of ROCC has been invaluable in the successful delivery of these services, in terms of both an understanding of requirement and technical knowledge. Throughout the project ROCC have been consistently attentive to our business needs and have demonstrated a level of professionalism far exceeding our expectations."

Contacts for more information:
If you are from a Local Planning Authority and are interested in finding out about the benefits of using Adobe PDF Tools please go to www.rocc.com/planning or contact:

Louise Taylor
Directorate Support Manager
Development and Regeneration
Chorley Borough Council
01257 515346
Louise.taylor@chorley.gov.uk

Andrew Westhead
Business Manager
ROCC Computers Ltd
Stanford Gate
South Road
Brighton BN1 6SB
01273 274752
andrew.westhead@rocc.co.uk