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Martin Yardley explains how new streamlined processes have turned Coventry into a developer-friendly city.

Is there ever a good time for a recession? Probably not. But here in Coventry we have tried hard to use it to our advantage. We looked at our set up and realised that it wasn’t working for developers, or for our residents.

That led us to bring together two of the council's biggest departments, into one major directorate that I now head up.

Now while this may sound like boring bureaucratic stuff to you, it's actually a pretty important factor in transforming us into a council that can. My head of highways also heads up our planning function. My management team includes our head of property and our head of development. So we talk together daily, we meet all the time and where we discover blockages in getting things done quickly we know the colleague who can sort it out for us.

And - more of the boring bureaucracy - we've spent time picking apart our procedures and processes; part of the secret of delivering what you promise is having a robust process to support your promises. In the past we had lots of very committed people working on a range of projects who often didn’t have a clue what else was going on in the city.

Now, that’s all changed - they talk on a regular basis, they spot opportunities for joint working and as a result we now have a well organised team with a single plan for our city.

Of course all of this is great news for developers too. We have to give developers the best possible reasons to choose us. The city already has location, transport links and a skilled workforce to offer - I wanted to make sure we offered even more to developers looking at Coventry as a place to do business.

I know how frustrating developers find traditional town planners - and I agree with many of their complaints. I want a developer (or a homeowner), to be able to come to us with a plan knowing they will have a single point of contact, knowing they will get honest answers and knowing they can trust our advice.

So we looked long and hard at our own processes, streamlined them to provide what our customers want and as a result we rose up the planning league table from 288th last year to first in March of this year.

Nothing sums up the way we have changed better than the recent announcement that Barberry has received outline planning approval for a £50m development on our former sorting office in the city centre.

We met the Barberry team for the first at MIPIM last year and now a neglected area of Coventry city centre is set to be transformed, and hundreds of jobs created, after proposals for a new multi-million-pound superstore were given the go-ahead by our planning committee.

The Bishop Gate development includes a supermarket superstore, car parking, gym/leisure facility with swimming pool and boulevard-style pedestrianised zones, as well as a new surface level crossing over our ring road.

Bishop Gate will really transform a run down and tired part of the city centre - which is absolutely fantastic. But when you think how much the developer and our council team have achieved together it goes to show how well set up we are to turn the right ideas for our fine city into a reality.

In less than a year, Worcestershire-based Barberry has purchased the 200,000 sq ft former Royal Mail Sorting Centre and adjoining properties and worked with us to get outline planning permission.

Coventry is a great city. It has ambition and passion. I'm proud of the work we've already done to put in place a professional set up that means we can make the right things happen here at the right time and in the right place. We are doing it now - mid recession. Just imagine how excited I am about what we can achieve as we emerge out of recession.

Martin Yardley is director of city services and development at Coventry City Council.