CITY planners have been praised by a minister for speeding up their handling of planning applications.

Durham City Council's planning department was praised in a letter by Housing and Planning Minister Keith Hill for the improvements it made after it failed to meet performance targets for dealing with minor schemes last year.

The changes, which included a restructuring of the department, have paid off and Mr Hill said the council was making excellent progress towards meeting performance standards.

A consultancy report on the department said it was exceeding national averages on smaller applications.

The report said applicants had a high level of satisfaction with the service.

Council leader Sue Pitts said she was delighted with the improvements in performance.

She said: "If we had been at this level of achievement a year ago, we would have stood to gain a £200,000 planning improvement grant.

"Nevertheless, we are on the right track now and it is particularly good that public perceptions of our service are also improved. Congratulations to all the people who have striven to make these gains."