Breckland Council's planning department descended into chaos last year after an overhaul of its computer software ended up taking weeks longer than expected.

This has resulted in a backlog of planning applications as well as land searches, a key part of the conveyancing process when buying a house.

While the council has hit back at "speculation" that no searches are being carried out, it is still working through a "significant backlog" of cases - five months after its IT software was updated.

Breckland Council offices (Image: Ian Burt) Land searches are mandatory when buying........

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