Planning Peer Review

A planning peer review, sometimes called a peer challenge, offers you an in-depth look at your service and provides a critical friend's view of your strenghts and opportunities for improvement.


An LGA Peer challenge is a proven means of support for local authorities.  A planning peer review works in an identical way, but with a focus on planning services. We bring together a small team of experienced planners and elected members from other authorities to review your planning service, identify strengths and weaknesses and then recommend actions for improvement. 

As such, a planning peer review should not be seen as an inspection. It is constructive challenge delivered by ‘critical friends’ that works on two levels within your authority. Firstly, it provides an assessment of how well different elements of the planning service work together and with the rest of the council to deliver the council’s strategic, spatial, and place-based objectives. Secondly, it helps the planning service itself to review what it is trying to achieve; how it is going about it; what it is achieving; and where it might need to improve.

All our reviews are tailored to meet an individual council’s needs and designed to complement a council’s own performance and improvement focus. Please download our guide to planning reviews for more information and get in touch with us at [email protected]

Becoming a peer

We are always keen to expand the pool of people we can draw as peers in planning reviews and in our wider work. If you are an experienced local authority planning officer or councillor with a role in planning, you could help us to provide sector-led support for other local authorities. 

The work is always rewarding and a great opportunity to develop your own knowledge and experience. You will have the opportunity to join a peer review team and undertake a planning peer review within a local authority, as well as support PAS at our events or training sessions.

Councillors should contact their political group office at the LGA who will provide more help and advice. Officers should download our peer recruitment pack and get in touch with us directly at [email protected].