Planning in Cymru - Wales - Royal Town Planning Institute

Planning in Cymru - Wales

03-Jul-09

Cymru - Wales has an elected national assembly and a devolved administration - the Welsh Assembly Government, with Ministers responsible for portfolios and departments to execute decisions.

Click here to access the assembly website

Click here to access the Welsh Assembly Government portal

Click here to access the Department for Environment, Sustainability and Housing (DfESH) which manages planning in Wales

Click here to access pages on the provision of planning services in Wales (provided by DfESH)

Responsibility for planning in Wales is divided between the UK Government and legislation, with some undevolved responsibilities still in force, the Welsh Assembly Government and local government.

The UK Government

The UK Government retains a general power to legislate for Wales and UK primary legislation (Acts of Parliament) apply in Wales unless the Welsh Assembly has specifically obtained and used its own power to legislate. At present, most primary legislation relevant to planning in Wales is UK legislation, such as the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) or the Planning Act 2008.

Welsh Assembly Government

The Government of Wales Act 2006 enables the Welsh Assembly Government to propose its own programme of legislation which includes:

Assembly Measures - in effect a general power for the Assembly to develop primary legislation relating to defined fields of competence, which include 'Town and Country Planning', housing and environmental issues. Click here to read Schedule 5 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, with a full list of fields and matters where Assembly Measures may be prepared. Once in force, an Assembly Measure would prevail over any UK legislation that previously applied in Wales. There are no planning measures in force as yet and hence Planning Acts of the UK Parliament remain generally applicable in Wales.
Legislative Competence Orders - in effect agreements between the UK Parliament and the Assembly, made as a Order in Council, providing additional legislative powers to the Assembly. Click here to read about the orders currently in force and those that are proposed.
Subordinate Legislation - Acts of the UK Parliament and Assembly Measures can both empower the assembly to make subordinate legislation as statutory instruments - and a number of planning regulations are now in force in Wales that are different from those in England.
Transfer of Functions Orders - these are orders that transfer legal powers and duties (executive functions) between UK Government Ministers of and Welsh Ministers. They are made by the Queen in Council. They enable planning functions in Wales to be exercised by Welsh Ministers as distinct from the relevant UK Minister in Communities and Local Government.

Legislation put forward by the Welsh Assembly Government is subject to scrutiny and approval by the National Assembly for Wales. Currently the National Assembly does not have a general law making power and must limit its legislative programme to the fields or to address the heads of powers described above. An 'All Wales Convention' has been appointed to address this question and, subject to its findings, there may be a further referendum on the transfer of additional powers to the Assembly Government.

Where a matter cannot be addressed using one of the powers outlined above, the Welsh Assembly Government may request a UK Parliamentary Bill to provide new powers, but such legislation is developed and scrutinised in the UK Parliament.

It is becoming common for UK Acts of Parliament to provide separately for Wales in any case, with a number of amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and provisions in the Planning Act 2008 being developed in this way.

Cymru - Wales also has its own system of national planning policy:

Click here to view the national planning framework - the Wales Spatial Plan, which sets a high level strategic planning framework for Wales as a whole and for six regions within it.
Click here to access Planning Policy Guidance Wales and system of supporting Technical Advice Notes (TANs) and Ministerial Interim Policy Statements which take the place of Planning Policy Statements (PPS) or Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs) in Wales.

Local government

Cymru - Wales has a unitary local government structure with 22 local authorities (city, county and county borough councils) which act as local planning authorities.

Click here to access more information about local government

Councils make local development plans (LDPs) which set out their planning policies and consider applications for planning permission (development management).

Appeals and examinations

Communities must be involved in the preparation of local development plans, which must be sound. Plans are examined by the independent Planning Inspectorate (PINS) (an agency of Communities and Local Government and the Welsh Assembly Government) which takes community views into account in concluding whether they are sound.

Click here to access more information about plan examination

Applicants concerned by a refusal to grant planning permission or the imposition of conditions can appeal a development management decision by their local planning authority to the independent Planning Inspectorate (PINS).

Click here to access more information about appeals
Click here to access the PINS home page for services in Cymru - Wales