Well

only one in 10 council planning departments are fully staffed, with 13% operating with fewer than three-quarters of posts filled

with

80% [of local authorities] reporting they did not have enough officers to carry out their workload

because

long-term cuts to funding have had a visible impact on planning departments’ ability to retain staff… there has been a 43% fall in resources to the planning system from local authorities since 2009-10.

https://www.lgcplus.com/services/regeneration-and-planning/planning-people-go-from-council-to-council-chasing-the-money-17-05-2023/

A fun game of spot the difference, but apparently there’s more going on that you can’t see – eg the planned underground carpark just not being built at all, and them building a carpark over the garden instead.

I’m intrigued by his Not Guilty plea for escaping custody when he was previously in custody, and then found to have escaped it. I don’t know much about legal procedures, but that does seem quite bold.