TOP of the league - that is the verdict on Worcester city council's planning department, which is the best performing in the West Midlands.

Over the past year 90 per cent of all major planning applications were decided within 13 weeks - which under government guidelines is the maximum time any developer should have to wait.

Council bosses say that the success is due to a wholesale review of the planning system three years ago, which overhauled the system.

Head of planning Paul O'Connor said: "Three years ago we had a root and branch review of what we do, and changed our procedure to make sure in future we met targets.

"There is no secret to it. We make sure there is proper pre-application negotiation with developers, and we make sure our legal team are kept fully informed on any goings-on as each application develops.

"We are very strict on deadlines for getting responses from developers and always tell people we will refuse applications if they do not come back to us on things.

"We assist developers as much as possible and in turn, they assist us in getting these kinds of results.

"The reason these targets came in is because the Government said planning departments around the country take too long to solve planning matters," he said.

Worcester city's record compares well to Wychavon's seventh placed finish - with 72 per cent of all their major planning applications being decided within 13 weeks.

In a table of 32 West Midlands authorities, Herefordshire finished 21st with 62 per cent while Malvern Hills finished 25th on 58 per cent.

"I would never be so bold as to give advice to anyone else on it," said Mr O'Connor.

"I'm not arrogant enough to suggest we have the answers elsewhere - but we have them in Worcester," he said.

Worcester city council has the equivalent of five full-time workers dealing with 1,000 applications a year.