Wales planning news, May 2024

 

Vaughan Gething MS is now the First Minister of Wales after winning the Welsh Labour leadership election on 16 March 2024. Julie James MS is the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Local Government & Planning. As discussed in this Insight, both candidates for First Minister recognised that planning backlogs are acting as barriers to investment. Vaughan Gething MS has previously called for a review of the planning system and for an Affordable Homes Taskforce to fast-track major affordable housing developments. Our Insight discusses what the priorities for a planning system review should be and highlights a number of issues in an attempt to promote further discussion around ways to enhance the planning system and ensure that it delivers for Wales.

 

The Welsh Government has updated their Planning Policy Guidance (PPG). Planning Policy Wales (PPW) sets out the land use planning policies of the Welsh Government. Edition 12 captures changes urgently introduced in October 2023 to Chapter 6 with respect to a net benefit for biodiversity and, amongst other amendments, the new requirement for green infrastructure statements to accompany planning applications.

Other changes have also been made to reflect legislative or strategy updates since the last edition. These include consequential changes arising from the publication Future Wales, the publication of the Wales Transport Strategy 2021, and the changes to use classes for second homes and short-term lets.

 

The Design Commission for Wales has updated its guidance for large-scale[1] onshore wind and solar farm development, reflecting the changes to national policy introduced by Future Wales: the National Plan 2040.

The new guidance is titled ‘Designing for Renewable Energy in Wales’ and supersedes the previous guidance, ‘Designing Wind Farms in Wales 2014’. The Welsh Government has a target of generating 70% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. This new guidance is designed to accelerate the growth of renewable energy generation so the Welsh Government can meet its target.

Much greater emphasis is being placed on the design process and undertaking creative landscape design, which it says should take the lead during the design process rather than a focus being placed on a mitigation-led approach. There are now eight design objectives which apply to all large-scale wind and solar installation developments. These are focused on avoiding negative environmental impacts, maximising the benefits to local communities and the careful consideration of design which considers environmental, aesthetic, and cultural factors. The guidance also includes specific sections on designing wind farms and solar farms.

The new guidance is not a policy document but it may be relevant in the decision-making processes for such development. 

The Welsh Government has updated its Housing Quality Standard. The Standard was originally introduced in 2002 and aimed to improve the quality of social housing through ensuring that all social homes were safe and secure, properly managed and generally in good condition. The update follows a consultation which concluded in August 2022 which asked for views on what the new standard should consist of. Some of the main features of the new Housing Quality Standard are:

 

• All habitable rooms, staircases and landings will need suitable floor coverings installed before a new tenant moves into social housing.
  
  
• Social landlords should achieve Energy Performance Certificate Band (EPC) A for both new and existing properties by 2033. However, this will be done in stages with an aim for EPC Band C by 2029.
  
  
• Social landlords will be required to undertake an assessment of all their properties to outline the current EPC and Environmental Impact ratings (EIR) of their homes. Landlords will then need to produce a Target Energy Pathway for each home, which will outline what work should be undertaken to achieve the required standards.
   
• Each home will have an EIR, which will be based on the average carbon emissions of the home.

Julie James MS, then the Welsh Government Minister for Climate Change called the new standard “bold and progressive” and outlined £70 million of funding, further to the £70 million of funding provided last year to help landlords finance the requirements set out within the standard.

The standard applies to all self-contained properties wholly owned and managed by local authorities under Part 4 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and registered social landlords  under Part 1 of the Welsh Housing Act 1996 who are regulated by the Welsh Government.

Further to the new Housing Quality Standard, The Welsh Government has announced that from April 2024, social housing landlords in Wales will be able increase rents by a maximum of 6.7%. This has been raised in line with inflation which was reported at 6.7% in the year to September 2023. Julie James MS said, “It is vital that we continue do all that we can to support those who face severe financial hardship, which is why I have made the decision to set the maximum uplift cap at the level of inflation”.

The Welsh Government has consulted on regulations which would expand the role of Health Impact Assessment (HIAs) in Wales.  Public bodies will be required to prepare a HIA when taking an action or making a decision of a strategic nature. The consultation proposed that this will be extended to include legislation-making, major procurement and commissioning decisions and strategic policy development but will not include the day to day decision making in delivering strategies. The consultation outlines that economic, social, cultural and environmental factors will all be considered when determining wider health considerations. Health inequality will look at differences in outcome between groups of people on the grounds of socio-economic status, geographic location, protected characteristics, and other matters a public body considers is relevant.

The proposed regulations include the need to look at populations affected, intended and unintended consequences, positive and negative impacts on physical and mental health – and the scale of these impacts, how to mitigate negative impacts, how to increase positive impacts and other matters that the public body wants to consider. They will also need to be published on a public body’s website for as long as the proposed action remains relevant and it is to be published as soon as reasonably practicable. The consultation concluded on 29 March 2024 and the outcome of the consultation will be published in due course.

The Infrastructure (Wales) Bill has been passed by the Senedd on 16 April 2024. As discussed in more detail here, the Bill aims to reform how infrastructure is consented in Wales. It will establish a unified infrastructure consenting process called an Infrastructure Consent, for specified types of major infrastructure called Significant Infrastructure Projects. These will include major energy, transport, waste, water and gas projects.

The Bill has now entered a four-week period of intimation. This is when the Attorney General and/or the Counsel General may refer the Bill to the Supreme Court if they wish to question whether the Bill is within the Senedd’s legislative competence or relates to a protected subject-matter. The Secretary of State for Wales may also intervene at this point. Otherwise, the Bill will be submitted for Royal Assent.

Two further consultations are due to be published this spring. The first will focus on the pre-application consultation procedure and will be a call for evidence to stakeholders and interested parties on how the pre-application process should be conducted. The second consultation paper will focus on fees for the consenting process.