Three additional members of staff have been employed at St Albans District Council to deal with the pressures of increasing planning applications.

Cabinet agreed the new posts at a meeting on Thursday, March 20 after hearing that there has been a 54.3 per cent increase in planning applications since 2009 and 2010.

The council’s planning team has been using temporary staff since 2011 to help it handle the increase in the number of planning applications.

The high level of applications is expected to continue for the foreseeable future as both national and local economies recover.

Cabinet decided the demand will be best met with more permanent members of staff and less use of agency and casual staff.