THANET Council's planning department has been awarded the third highest grant in the country by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The planning delivery grant of £648,000 was received for meeting Government targets for processing major, minor and other applications within set timescales between October 2002 and September 2003. As it achieved all three goals, a bonus award was also allocated to the Council.

The money also recognises the good progress being made by Thanet council towards introducing a new Local Plan that will set out planning policies for the area until 2011.

Cllr John Kirby, council cabinet member for planning, said: "Last year we received around £120,000 from the government, so this is a significant improvement. The amount was based upon determining planning applications quickly and efficiently and we achieved all of our targets set last year by central government.

"We intend to use the money to significantly improve services to benefit the whole community. This acknowledges growing public interest in planning, so we will make more information available.

"From the developers' point of view, we will be asking our local user group how they believe we can further improve the planning service."

*The public inquiry into outstanding objections to the Local Plan opens on Wednesday, April 14, at the council offices in Margate.