Wales planning news, February 2019

The Welsh Government has published Edition 10 of Planning Policy Wales (PPW10), setting out its land use planning policies and overarching goals. The document was originally published in draft form and issued for consultation in February 2018.

As highlighted by the then Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, in her written statement ‘PPW has been completely reworked to take account of the Well-being of Future Generations Act’. Furthermore, the latest edition of PPW has a stronger focus on promoting placemaking, which is considered instrumental in achieving sustainable places.

In terms of its content, PPW10 removed the strong emphasis on local authorities working together to prepare joint Local Development Plans, as consultation responses highlighted the rigidity of the proposed approach, and the potential risks for local democracy. The finalised PPW10 instead recognises the importance of National Development Framework and Strategic Development Plans in ensuring planning is comprehensive and integrated.

In relation to housing, PPW10 promotes a more detailed assessment of deliverability and viability at the plan-making stage, as local authorities will be expected to produce high-level plan-wide viability appraisals to be published at the Deposit stage. It is intended that viability should then only be reconsidered at application stage in exceptional circumstances, such as where new information on site costs become available or due to wider economic changes.

Finally, and notwithstanding last summer’s disapplication of paragraph 6.2 of TAN1, PPW10 maintains its requirement for local planning authorities to ensure enough ‘adequate land is genuinely available or will become available to provide a five-year supply of housing’.

For further details read Lichfields’ blogs and commentary on PPW10:

The Law Commission has published its report on Planning Law in Wales, making recommendations for improving and simplify the system to reflect how the system works in practice. The Law Commission was invited by the Welsh Government to consider the codification of planning law in Wales, and carried out an initial consultation in November 2017.

The Final Report, which is almost 500-page long, includes 193 recommendations to simplify and consolidate planning legislation in Wales; the expectation is that this would inform a potential future Bill to be laid before the Welsh Assembly.

The Report recognises that planning law in Wales ‘is unnecessarily complicated and, in places, difficult to understand’; this is also in light of the the numerous amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 not having been consolidated.

The Final Report makes technical recommendations that include, amongst others:

• Clarifying the principles that underline the Planning Code in Wales;
• Simplifying the law in relation to when a planning permission is required;
• Increasing clarity on outline planning permissions by restructuring primary legislation;
• Strengthening the law on pre-commencement conditions;
• Clarifying that Section 73 Minor Material Amendments applications can be used to amend planning permissions, and not just conditions;
• Enabling planning obligations to be entered by prospective purchasers of land.

The Law Commission’s report also recommends repealing various unused legislative provisions, such as those relating to enterprise zone schemes, simplified planning zones, urban development corporations, new towns, the establishment of planning inquiry commissions, and the powers to establish areas of archaeological importance.

The Welsh Government will provide an interim response to the Final Report by end of May 2019, while a detailed response will be issued by the end of November 2019.

On 13 December, the former Welsh Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford, was officially appointed as First Minister for Wales, replacing the former First Minister Carwyn Jones.

Mark Drakeford also announced the list of his Cabinet Ministers. Julie James has been appointed as Minister for Housing and Local Government, replacing Rebecca Evans (who was Minister for Housing and Regeneration); the newly renamed post brings planning within the Housing Minister’s remit.

Previously, Lesley Griffiths, the Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, was responsible for planning policy and legislation within the Welsh Government. Lesley Griffiths has now been re-appointed Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs. Ken Skates has also been re-appointed as Minister for Economy and Transport.

The 2018 Housing Land Availability summary has been published by the Welsh Government. Welsh Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) are required to monitor and report on the availability of land in their areas by preparing an annual Joint Housing Land Availability Study to demonstrate that enough land is brought forward for housing development.

The Summary for 2018 shows that 19 out of twenty-five Welsh LPAs were unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, as of 1 April 2018. This is in line with figures from the previous year, which showed that 18 out of twenty-five LPAs were unable to demonstrate the required land supply.

Worryingly, the majority of Welsh LPAs (15 out of twenty-five) have been unable to demonstrate a five year housing land supply for three or more consecutive years. The Summary for 2018 highlights how, in response to these findings, the Welsh Government have revised Planning Policy Wales (see headline news) to require more rigorous assessments of sites prior to allocation in Local Development Plans.