Town and Country completes digitisation of over 40,000 files

Camille Robinson-Regis
Camille Robinson-Regis

PLANNING and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis has announced, in a media release, that the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD) has completed the digitisation of 40,000 application files, and approximately 1,200 layouts and 750 plotting sheets.

This is the completion of the largescale conversion of the TCPD’s North Regional Office’s paper records from the year 2000 to 2017, the release said.

Robinson-Regis said this development creates an ease of access to land data for the TCPD, presenting several benefits, which include:

The availability of a comprehensive, readily accessible database to assist in accurate decision making; increased efficiency of development control processes due to the elimination of unnecessary and time-consuming vault searches and the elimination of illnesses to staff caused by dust, mold and mildew found on old files.

As a result of the digitisation of the files, staff can now access thousands of material and legacy information without ever having to leave their desks. This also provides an electronic medium to access historical data regarding the spatial development of TT, the release added.

It said it will also benefit citizens by eliminating the wait on responses to queries regarding applications and land use data.

“The overall goal of the Digitisation Project is a complete shift to digital capture, management and storage of the TCPD’s paper- based development control legacy data to allow for easy incorporation into the automated system of construction permitting.

The release said the next steps for the TCPD will be the commencement of digitisation of the records of the South Regional Office in November; train the trainer sessions in December for efficient use of the digitised system by staff and completion of the Geographic Information System (GIS) component of the North Regional Office to begin in January 2020.

The release said the achievement falls in line with the overall Transformation Project of the TCPD which incorporates enhanced service delivery in the TCPD’s offices and through staff interactions in general; automation of the construction permitting system, which will facilitate the building application process online and of course the digitisation of all records.

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