Wales planning news, February 2020

 

On 15 January, Julie James, Minister for Housing and Local Government released a Written Statement explaining that the Town and Country Planning (Notification) (Wales) Direction 2012 (the 2012 Direction) has been amended. In force from 15 January the 2020 Direction requires Welsh Ministers to be notified where an authority intends to grant planning permission for development that includes 10 or more dwellings or is residential development on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares where the proposed development is not in accordance with one or more provisions of the adopted development plan. The 2012 direction only required Ministers to be notified when developments exceeds 150 dwelling or used more than 6 hectares of land and did not accord with the local development plan.

The Statement also asserts the importance of producing and reviewing local development plans and delivering site allocations in line with community expectations.

The Welsh Government has published a series of documents regarding the emerging National Development Framework (NDF). Consultation on the draft NDF closed on 15 November 2019 and the responses are now being considered ahead of a report containing the proposed changes, which is planned for publication in March 2020. A report has also been released by the Assembly's Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, which includes initial scrutiny of the draft NDF. That report comprises a set of recommendations among which is that the Welsh Government responds to the report and all of its conclusions when the NDF is presented to the Assembly for scrutiny, in late Spring 2020. The Welsh Government has also released explanatory papers which set out the evidence used to support the draft NDF. A full index of the evidence behind every section and policy in the draft NDF is expected to be made available this month.

The Welsh Government has launched a consultation proposing an increase in fees for planning and related applications in order to better cover the costs incurred by local planning authorities in determining such applications. The consultation generally proposes an increase in the fee limits by approximately 20%. It also suggests introducing a fee for certificates of appropriate alternative development.

Please see our Lichfields Planning Matters blog for more information

The Consultation closes on 13 March 2020.

The Welsh Government (WG) has implemented controls on social rent uplift as it seeks to ensure that housing affordability is central to rent policy in Wales, accepting the recommendation of the Independent Housing Supply Review in this regard. Julie James, Minister for Housing and Local Government has released a statement outlining her policy to implement a five year agreement on rent policy, beginning in April 2020. The policy comprises an annual rent uplift of up to CPI +1% each year for 5 years, using the level of CPI from the previous year. The uplift is not automatic and the Minister says she will expect social landlords to undertake assessments each year that put affordability for tenants at the centre of their considerations. The Minister also referred to a number of initiatives that had been agreed with social landlords, including those related to Design Quality Requirement 2020 space standards and aspirations for achieving certain energy efficiency levels (which would apply to all tenures).

 

The Welsh Government has released its annual report on planning services and performance which includes the time taken to make planning decisions and performance of the Welsh Government and local planning authorities for 2018 to 2019. The report is extensive and provides information on the performance of all the local planning authorities across Wales as well as providing a national average showing significant variety between them.

The Welsh Government has continued to meet and exceed its own targets for a number of decisions such as EIA screening requests, listed building consent and conservation area confirmations and for non-specialist applications. However, the performance for deciding whether to call-in applications, notification direction cases and recovered and called-in appeals has declined.

Overall there is a mixed picture with a conclusion that budget cuts continuing to put significant pressure on decision-making performance across a range of indicators.

The Welsh Government has published a consultation that would require significant changes over the next 5 years as to how new homes are powered and heated. The proposals, which would result in changes to Parts L and F of the Building Regulations, are part of the Welsh Government’s target of zero emissions by 2050. The consultation document sets out a number of proposed changes ranging from energy efficiency and futureproofing, to the phasing out high-carbon fossil fuels, limiting heat loss and reducing the demand for heating and improving air quality. The changes would come into force in later this year.

The consultation on the new proposals closes on 12 March 2020.

A separate consultation on standards for existing buildings and non-domestic buildings will be published in early 2020.