Planning (Wales) Bill starts legislative journey

Angus Walker picture-13This entry reports on the introduction of the Planning (Wales) Bill to the Welsh Assembly.

Six months ago, the Welsh Government (which stopped being called the Welsh Assembly Government in May 2011), consulted on a draft Bill on planning in Wales, which was covered in this blog entry.

Last week the final version of the Bill was introduced into the Welsh Assembly. The Bill can be found here. The main provisions of the Bill are as follows. They are almost the same as the draft Bill, but I've added clause numbers. As this is not a stand-alone Bill (i.e. it only amends other Acts) I have also noted what Act is being amended.

  • A National Development Framework is to be created for Wales, i.e. a spatial plan for the whole country (clause 2, replacing section 60 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004);
  • Welsh Ministers can require strategic plans for areas bigger than single local authorities and smaller than the whole country (clause 2, inserting section 60E into that Act);
  • Local plans continue but Welsh Ministers can force two or more authorities to produce a joint one (clause 12, amending section 70 of that Act);
  • *Compulsory pre-application consultation can be required for certain types of development (yet to be specified) (clause 15, mirroring section 122 of the Localism Act 2011);
  • *Applications for Developments of National Significance (DNSs) to be made directly to Welsh Ministers (types yet to be specified) (clause 17, inserting section 62D into the 2004 Act);
  • *There is a general power to fold 'secondary consents' into the main consent for DNSs (clause 18, inserting section 62F into the 2004 Act);
  • *For DNSs, relevant local authorities must submit a local impact report (note: compulsory) (clause 19, inserting section 62I into the 2004 Act);
  • There is also a 'special measures'-type provision where certain applications to certain authorities can also be made directly to Welsh Ministers (clause 20, inserting section 62L into the 2004 Act);
  • For certain planning permissions, the developer must tell the local planning authority when they start implementing them (clause 32, inserting section 71ZB into the Town and Country Planning Act 1990);
  • Welsh planning applications get a bit longer to be implemented: the later of five years since outline consent or two years since the last reserved matters consent (in England it is just the latter criterion) (clause 34, amending section 90 of the 1990 Act).

The measures with an asterisk comprise a 'Planning Act lite' for large developments in Wales that are below the thresholds (or outside the categories) in the Planning Act 2008. In the Planning Act 2008 I suppose 'nationally significant infrastructure project' is referring to the nation of the United Kingdom, whereas in the Planning (Wales) Bill 'development of national significance' is referring to the nation of Wales. For the non-British, a Venn diagram is useful in explaining how the UK is made up.

The explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill suggests that the thresholds for DNSs will be the same as for NSIPs where the Planning Act 2008 does not extend to Wales already, and apply to energy projects above 25MW, where the Planning Act does apply to Wales and the threshold is 50MW onshore.

That doesn't quite work, because the Planning Act applies in Wales to developments other than electricity generation - electric lines, 'starting to use' gas storage (but not creating it), non-gas transporter pipelines and harbour facilities. If the threshold for those developments to be a DNS in Wales is the same as the threshold for the Planning Act, then there will never be a DNS - the thresholds will have to be lower than in the Planning Act for it to work.

I suppose the most important point is that those involved in infrastructure projects in Wales that aren't covered by the Planning Act 2008 regime will have to get used to a similar regime there once this Bill is enacted and comes into force. You can always This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to know more if you are affected.

The explanatory memorandum suggests that there will be around 10 DNS applications per year. It will be interesting to see this regime develop, and whether it learns some of the lessons of the Planning Act regime. The committee considering the Bill has asked for submissions on it by 7 November.