This is the latest message from the Vale website, 26 Jan 2015, re: planning

Planning

• We’re currently predicting a fortnight’s delay in deciding planning applications.
• If you need to apply for planning permission, it would be a great help if you could delay submitting it for a couple of weeks, so we can deal with urgent issues.
• We are extending the deadline for comments on planning applications by eight days, which was the length of time our systems was down for.
• You can now view and comment on planning applications online. It will take our planning officers a few weeks to get back up to speed with the applications, so please hold off ringing about your application until the end of next week unless it’s urgent.
• All planning applications and comments we received either by post or online on Tuesday 13 January and after were definitely lost in the fire. Please resend your application or comment.
• It’s not yet clear if we still have applications that we received on Monday 13 January, so please stand by for an update.
• If any of this will cause you a major problem, please call 01235 540546.