A DAREDEVIL tourism attraction has put its opening back seven months because of a delayed decision on its application.

The Brighton Zip Wire had hoped to open its 300 metre long ride along Brighton seafront at the tail end of this summer.

But plans for a 2016 opening have been shelved as the firm still awaits a decision on a planning application submitted in May.

The opening will be delayed until the spring at a potential cost to the firm of £120,000 in lost revenue for the end of the summer holidays alone.

Opposition councillors and industry figures said the council’s planning department was holding the city back.

Latest government figures show the council is the third worst performing unitary authority nationally with the majority of planning applications decided later than the eight week deadline.

Only Blackpool and Warrington have worse records between January and March than the council’s late decision rate of 54 per cent.

The national average is 22 per cent and in comparison city rivals Bristol, Portsmouth and Nottingham are late with 15 per cent of decisions or less.

Council officials said figures submitted later this month would show the authority returning to national standards.

The planning department has gone through major upheaval with 38 staff from its 76 strong team leaving in the three years up to April.

Since last July, when the department went into emergency measures, a recruitment drive has seen 14 new employees in nine months.

A new IT system is currently being introduced while agency staff have been appointed to speed up responses.

But that has not been enough to help Paramount Entertainments, who had hoped to open soon after the Brighton Wheel's removal in May to try and retain tourism footfall in Madeira Drive.

A decision on the application for the 30 metre high attraction, which hopes to attract up to 32,000 customers annually, was due on August 2 but is now expected in October.

Ian Coomber, planning consultant on the Brighton Zip Wire, said: “Unfortunately we are not alone, there does seem to be a lot of applications slipping into the backlog.

“I appreciate that efforts are being made to improve the service but my fear is that things have been so bad for so long that it is a bit like trying to turn round the Titanic.”

Phil Graves, Graves Jenkins managing director, said levels of service had not improved despite assurances and called on the council to prioritise improvement and increase staff numbers with immediate effect.

He added: "The debacle with the planning system has been prevalent for some time now.

"The negative economic impact to the city is vast and our efforts in introducing inward investment is being dramatically affected."

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: "Various senior officers across the council are aware of the issue, they are clear on the importance of this application and are looking to get it dealt with as soon as is humanly possible."