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Local Authorities & Waterboard Update

21 Oct 2020   |   Joanna Fowke   |   0 Comments

Please find below our latest update on Turnaround Times for Personal Local Searches across England and Wales.

Needless to say that as all of Wales and parts of the UK enter periods of more serious lockdowns ETA’s may be effected and we will do our best to update you on these as and when they happen.

Private Water and Drainage Searches remain steady at 15 day Turnaround Times with the exception of Thames Water which are c.25 days.

Despite the ever changing landscape we are confident that overall, the speed of responses at Local Authorities and Water Companies is getting better and so whilst they are extended still, our best advice is to order searches as soon as you are able and we will return the results as quickly as we possible can.

Finally, despite the lists of the worst offenders below, the average across Local Authorities in England and Wales hovers around 15/16 working days and so there is still no need to consider anything less than a Full Data Local Authority Search.

Adur (20-25 working days)
Barrow in Furness (25-30 Working days)
Barnet (25-30 Working days)
Bedford (25-30 Working days)
Birmingham (The Council have now implemented a new procedure for obtaining Highways information, all new searches should be returned with 15 working days)
Blackburn with Darwen (20-25 Working days)
Blaenau Gwent (30-35 Working days)
Boston (30-35 Working days)
Bradford (30-35 Working days) Can be expedited at a fee of £6- 10 working days
Bridgend (20-25 working days)
Bristol (20-25 Working days)
Broadland (20-25 Working days)
Broxbourne (20-25 Working days)
Broxtowe (20-25 Working days)
Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury Vale) (20-25 Working days)
Caerphilly (20-25 Working days)
Calderdale (30-35 Working days)
Cambridge (20-25 Working days)
Cannock Chase (20-25 Working days)
Castle Point (20-25 Working days)
Central Bedfordshire (30-35 Working days)
Chelmsford (35-40 Working days)
Cheltenham (20-25 Working days)
Colchester (20-25 Working days)
Cornwall (delays continuing to increase, expect this to go over 30 days in upcoming days)
Coventry (20-25 Working days)
Dacorum (20-25 Working days)
Derby (20-25 Working days)
Dorset - North Dorset (20-25 Working days)
Dorset - West Dorset (25-30 Working days)
Durham - delayed (50 working days) We can do the expedited service as you have stated which is 20 working days
East Devon (20-25 Working days)
East Hampshire (30-35 Working days)
East Staffordshire (25-30 Working days)
Epping Forest (20-25 Working days)
Fenland (25-30 Working days)
Flintshire (35-40 Working days)
Great Yarmouth (20-25 Working days)
Greenwich (still working through their backlog & delays continue) New orders allow 25-30 working days
Gwynedd (20-25 Working days)
Hackney (50-55 Working days) Cyber attack causing huge delays
Harlow (20-25 Working days)
Harrogate (35-40 Working days)
Hastings (20-25 Working days)
Havering - booking system now open but experiencing large delays. Current orders taking up to 45 days (Official searches now taking 15-20 days)
Herefordshire (20-25 Working days)
Huntingdon (30-35 Working days)
Islington (25-30 Working days)
Lewes (25-30 Working days)
Lewisham (30-35 Working days)
Lichfield (40-45 Working days)
Maldon (20-25 Working days)
Neath Port Talbot (25-30 Working days)
New Forest (25-30 Working days)
North Warwickshire (35-40 Working days)
Oadby & Wigston (20-25 Working days)
Oldham (Now 25-30 Working days) Not taking any Personal Search requests until November, currently only Officials can be requested. Delays expected
Pembrokeshire (25-30 Working days) Not taking any Personal Search requests until November, currently only Officials can be requested. Delays expected
Plymouth (20-25 Working days)
Powys (System issues 20-25 Working days)
Richmondshire (25-30 Working days)
Rossendale (20-25 Working days)
Rother (20-25 Working days)
Rotherham - (25-30 Working days) Due to staffing issues no search results for Official or Personal Searches will be returned during the period of 1 October to the 12 October 2020. This will obviously create a backlog and affect turnaround times. Results will be returned strictly in date order and unfortunately any urgent requests will have to be declined
Sandwell (25-30 Working days)
Shropshire (20-25 Working days)
South Cambridgeshire (20-25 Working days)
South Derbyshire (35-40 Working days)
Southend on Sea (20-25 Working days)
South Kesteven (30-35 Working days)
South Lakeland (30-35 Working days)
South Staffordshire (30-35 Working days)
St Helens (20-25 Working days)
Stock on Trent (20-25 Working days)
Stratford Upon Avon (25-30 Working days)
Swindon (25-30 Working days)
Tameside (40-45 Working days)
Tamworth (40-45 Working days) Council delays increasing
Thanet (40-45 Working days) Expedited option available- £45 (7 working days) 
Torfaen (25-30 Working days)
Torridge (30-35 Working days)
Tower Hamlets (20-25 Working days)
Vale of Glamorgan (20-25 Working days)
Waltham Forest (40-45 Working days) Official searches can be ordered for quicker response. (10 Working days)
Wealden (20-25 Working days)
West Berkshire (25-30 Working days) Council now open for visitors so we hope this turnaround will start to decrease
West Lancashire (20-25 Working days)
West Lindsey (35-40 Working days)
Wiltshire (25-30 Working days)
Worcester (20-25 Working days)
Worthing (20-25 Working days) 

Councils closed but offering PLAS for an additional fee:
Canterbury (£30.00)
City of York (Personal Searches NOT available but LLC1 option at an additional fee of £21.00)
Selby (No longer accepting Personal Searches, only option is to pay a fee of £22.70)

Following Water Companies are Business as Usual:

Please note there are slight delays but the overall turnaround time for all waterboards is 15 working days.

Anglian Water - Business as usual. (Please note that turnaround time for Official Water & Drainage is 5 working days for a straight forward search, however if a query is raised, delays up to 14 working days are expected)
Northumbrian Water - Business as usual.
Southern Water - Business as usual.
South West Water - Business as usual.
Seven Trent Water - Business as usual.
Thames Water - Business as usual (expecting delays, currently 25 working days) Please note that Official Water & Drainage residential and commercial turnaround time is 10 working days. If a query is raised it starts from 10 working days again upon resolution of query.
Welsh Water - Personal Search service is unaffected but limited Official Search Service (taking 20 working days).
Wessex Water - Business as usual.
United Utilities - Business as usual.
Yorkshire Water - Business as usual.

Your CDS Team