Wales planning news, July 2019

The Welsh Government has published a draft version of the Development Plans Manual (Edition 3) which once finalised will replace the previous iteration of the Manual that was published in 2015.

The update has been published to reflect significant changes to planning legislation and national policy that have been implemented since 2015, specifically in relation to the Planning Wales Act 2015, the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015, and the Planning Policy Wales (Edition 10).

The draft manual presents a step change in approach from previous iterations as it seeks to provide detailed technical guidance. The 3 tier development plan system is at the heart of the draft Manual, with the National Development Framework sitting at the top, followed by Strategic Development Plans and light LDP’s at the bottom. The draft Manual introduces a new ‘general conformity’ test with ambitious timescales for plan preparation. The front loading of evidence in plan preparation is a key component of the draft manual, including high level viability testing at the candidate site stage. Whilst the draft manual does not set out a preferred viability model, it does include guidance on key components and considerations. The draft manual also mirrors PPW10 which seeks to limit a viability case being presented at the development management stage to exceptional circumstances only – this will clearly be a key area of contention.

The draft Manual is out for consultation until 30 August 2019.

The Welsh Government has published a draft National Strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management. Once finalised the Strategy will set out how the Government and its partners intend to manage the risks from flooding and coastal erosion across Wales over the next eight years.

The Strategy sets out a draft framework for achieving five objectives: improving the understanding and communication of risk, building resilience, prioritising investment to communities at most risk, preventing more people becoming exposed to risk and providing an effective and sustained response to events. It is therefore a broad reaching document.

TAN15, the planning guidance document on flooding, is being updated alongside the strategy. It will provide a clearer approach to managing areas at medium and high risk of flooding but overall it will still discourage proposals in high risk areas. The Development Advice Maps will be withdrawn and the Wales Flood Map will provide the key source of up to date advice for planners. It will be necessary to review the revised TAN15 to understand the implications for future development management decisions and we’ll provide an insight once this is made available.

The consultation ends on 16 September 2019.

The Wales Audit Office (WAO) has published a report on the effectiveness of Local Planning Authorities in Wales, which highlights the insufficient capacity and limited resources available to local planning services.

The WAO Report revealed that Local Authorities’ budget for planning service has been cut by 50% in real terms over the last decade, as net expenditure has fallen from £45m in 2008/09 to £22.8m in 2017/18. Among other findings, the Report also highlighted that, while the number of planning applications has been relatively stable over the last four year (at around 24,000 application per annum), the number of applications processed on time have diminished.

Among its recommendations, the Report calls for the Welsh Government to review development control fees to ensure that these better reflect the actual cost of providing the relevant planning services.

The Auditor General concluded that Planning Authorities in Wales ‘are not resilient enough to deliver long-term improvements because of their limited capacity and the challenge of managing a complex system’. RTPI Cymru Director Roisin Willmott commented the WAO’s findings and recommendations stressing the need for proper resourcing for planning services.

The Welsh Government has announced that the M4 Relief Road scheme around Newport has been cancelled, following the conclusion of a public inquiry into the project.

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford addressed the National Assembly for Wales explaining the reasons for his decision to refuse to make the necessary Compulsory Purchase Orders and progress the scheme, following his consideration of the Inspector’s report. He mentioned the ‘significant level of expenditure needed to deliver the M4’ project’ as the main reasons for refusal, given the ‘unacceptable impact’ this would have had on other Welsh Government’s priorities.

Although the complicated financial position of the scheme meant that the project could have not been implemented in the foreseeable future, the Welsh First Minister confirmed that also if he had to assess the scheme’s advantages and disadvantages he would have chosen not to make the schemes and orders against the Inspector’s recommendations. This mostly in light of the greater weight he recognised to the adverse impacts that the project would have had on the environment and ecology.

As confirmed by a Written Statement issued the following day by the Welsh Minister for Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates, the Welsh Government has immediately appointed an expert Commission (the South East Wales Transport Commission) tasked with making recommendations about alternative solutions to improve the transport network in South East Wales. The Commission will report on its interim findings within six months of its establishment.

The Welsh Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, has issued a Written Statement to respond to the recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change’s report ‘Net Zero – The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming’.

The Environment Minister confirmed that the Welsh Government has already approved a legally-binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by ‘at least 80%’ in 2050; furthermore, the Welsh Government has also recently declared a climate emergency.

Accordingly, Lesly Griffiths said that the Welsh Government believes that it is necessary to go further than what recommended by the Committee on Climate Change (i.e. 95% reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2050) and confirmed its ambition to achieve net zero emission by 2050.