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/