Executive Summary

1. This project scopes the current resources and capacity within public sector planning services in Wales. It provides an-up-to-date evidence base to inform and shape interventions and solutions to support planners and the wider planning profession to unleash the full potential of the planning system in Wales as a force for positive change.

2. Our findings are based on:

   • A desk-based review of existing key reports and their findings along with a review of relevant data held by stakeholder organisations;
   • A survey of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), the planning function of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and the Welsh Government's own Planning Division (WG Planning Division);
   • A series of follow-up interviews with survey respondents and key stakeholders; and
   • Discussion with the Wales Planning Consultants’ Forum, Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and RTPI accredited university planning schools.
3. A properly resourced planning system is the Government’s key mechanism for creating healthy, inclusive, economically and environmentally sustainable places. This research provides up-to-date evidence to inform and shape interventions and solutions to support planners and the wider planning profession to unleash the full potential of the planning system in Wales as a force for positive change.
4. This evidence report discusses current public sector resource and capacity gaps and challenges (financial and people), considers future workforce requirements, and suggests potential solutions that could help ease these pressures and support delivery of an effective and responsive planning service in Wales.
5. Gathering and presenting the data and information in a way that fully accounts for the wide range of roles, contexts and circumstances across the public planning service has been challenging. As such, the data should be interpreted recognising its limitations and the variety of additional factors that sit outside the scope of this commission or beyond the direct remit of the planning system. Nevertheless, this report provides a valuable foundation on which further evidence can continue to be built and refined over the coming years.
6. This report concludes with seven recommendations derived from the evidence. The scope of this research did not include discussion or testing of ideas and proposals outside the public sector organisations that form part of this research. We therefore recommend that a sounding board is established to discuss the practicalities and impacts of implementing the recommendations in this report (recommendation 1).
7. Over the past two decades, the public sector planning service has endured prolonged budget cuts and chronic underinvestment, at a time when additional duties have added to workloads. This has led to an erosion of capacity and skills, undermining the profession’s impact and ability to deliver. Challenges persist, but the commitment of those working within the system remains evident and is applauded.
8. This research follows on from existing key research. Following the Audit Wales report on the Effectiveness of Planning Authorities in Wales, the Inquiry into the Effectiveness of Local Planning Authorities in Wales by the Welsh Parliament Public Accounts Committee (June 2020) found that:

“Planning is critical but at present it is not able to deliver the aspirations of the Planning, Environment and Well-being of Future Generations Acts because of reductions in resources.”

9. Research on Building capacity through collaboration and change commissioned by RTPI Cymru (November 2023) found that:

“The resource and workload pressures in many planning organisations – and local planning authorities in particular - do not allow space for significant innovation and improvement – there is limited capacity to reflect, design and enact change.”

10. Our research found that:

Wider Context

11. Real term net expenditure on LPA planning services in Wales decreased by 43% (£21m) between 2009 and 2024. This reflects a slight improvement since 2022.
12. Most Local Planning Authorities report that planning fees cover only a fraction of actual service delivery. Looking at planning income as a proportion of whole planning service expenditure, our research has shown that the Wales-wide average level of cost recovery stood at 32% in 2009, increasing to 39% in 2024.
13. Looking at cost recovery data for just the development management service, our research has shown that the Wales-wide average stood at 46% in 2009, increasing to 56% in 2024.
14. Between April 2018 and April 2024, the number of planners (policy, development management and enforcement) recorded on LPA structures increased by 46 posts (11%) across Wales. However, it is only recently, in some areas, that we have started to see improvements in terms of budgets and staff recruitment, after drastic and prolonged cuts across planning in the public sector. A number of responses to the survey suggest that the change since 2022 has been due to a recognition that austerity cuts had gone too far, affecting performance, morale and staff retention.

15. Over this same period, business support teams reduced by 12 posts (12%). Although some of this will have been due to process efficiencies, it will also have meant already stretched planners are spending an increased proportion of their time on administrative tasks, which reduces the time they can devote to their core planning responsibilities.

16. The Welsh Government’s Planning Division reduced in size from 60 officers in 2015 to 41 officers in 2018 and to 33 officers in 2024. This has had a tangible impact on the Planning Division’s ability to provide timely and robust national policy updates or provide wider leadership for example by monitoring performance and driving improvement. It is only in recent months that steps have been taken to reverse some of these cuts with the welcome recruitment of much-needed planners. Likewise, NRW has faced a period of financial pressures and increasing workloads. PEDW continues to recruit additional Inspectors to deal with an increasingly complex caseload of infrastructure projects and Local Development Plan (LDP) examinations

Recent Activity

17. Between September 2022 and March 2025, staff turnover and recruitment activity meant that 165 planning posts, 26 specialist posts and 14 business support posts were advertised.
18. Despite this recruitment activity and the 46 additional planning officer posts shown on team structures since 2018, at the time of responding to our survey (May 2025), 37 planning officer posts were reported as being vacant, plus six specialist posts and five business support posts. Overall, 73% of LPAs were operating with one or more vacancies within their planning service. Importantly, 11 LPAs reported multiple vacancies, with some reporting as many as five vacancies. Consequently, despite recent efforts to resource LPAs, most of those posts have not been filled either due to difficulties recruiting or recruitment freezes.
19. The lack of capacity has stalled progress on putting in place the framework for a Plan-led system, affecting both the second tranche of LDPs and the commencement of Strategic Development Plans (SDP). It also affects an LPA’s ability to provide timely or comprehensive pre-application advice or offer Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs), which in turn reduces sources of additional income, creating further budget and service delivery pressures. Several respondents referred to a limited pool of ecologists, highways and heritage specialists. The knock-on effect is significant, impacting application determination times and service quality, sometimes resulting in poor responses and missed opportunities.
20. 100% of interviewees felt that these resource challenges, an expanding remit and growing stakeholder expectations meant their LPA did not currently have capacity to deliver planning ambitions or strategic goals, with the focus instead on surviving/fire-fighting. We therefore recommend that a Planning Improvement Service should be created, similar to the independent local government improvement service established in Scotland (recommendation 2). It would be headed up by newly created independent Planning Improvement Champion and would develop and promote best practice and efficiencies, support peer review and performance monitoring, serve as a central knowledge hub for the profession, and support innovation and shared services where appropriate. This service could be hosted by the WLGA but will require additional resource to be delivered.

21. To ensure future service resilience and sustainability, further work is needed to reach an agreed definition of the extent of the planning service to which full cost recovery applies (recommendation 3).

22. Recommendation 4 seeks a commitment to regular monitoring of planning service capacity (staffing numbers, number of vacancies, and a skills survey), fee income as a proportion of development management service costs, performance and how increase fee income since December 2025 has been utilised to improve service delivery. This monitoring should use the findings in this report as a baseline, to support evidence-based decision-making and resilience in the long term as an extension to the recently recommenced national planning performance framework.

Looking ahead:

23. There is potential to lose 17% (95 planners: those aged 55+) of public sector planners from the workforce within the next five to ten years due to retirement. This figure increases to 42% (234 planners: those aged 45+) when looking at a medium-term horizon of ten to 20 years. (These figures do not include NRW). Unless robust succession planning is in place, complemented by a strong pipeline of new planners, this loss of planning knowledge and leadership will have a significant impact on service delivery and planning outcomes.
24. In addition, by extrapolating from the two published SDP Delivery Agreements the data suggests we need 24 extra policy planners.
25. In total, the short-term recruitment need is 161 extra planners, 15 specialist officers and five business support officers. This is simply to address known LPA vacancies (at May 2025) (37 planners), SDP needs (24 planners), PEDW capacity for SDP, LDP and infrastructure work (5 planning inspectors) and imminent retirement (95 planners including planning inspectors), plus 15 specialist officers (six known local authority vacancies and nine NRW vacancies at May 2025). This does not allow for reversing the deep and unsustainable cuts from over a decade of austerity.

“Officers do not have the time to invest in training or reading…it would be good to have a robust structure that allowed time for experienced planners to train younger planners. That has been lost as everyone has been firefighting for years and the tap of enquiries and applications keeps flowing.” (LPA respondent)

26. Our research findings highlight that the planning system urgently requires significant financial investment, at both a national and local level, to function effectively. This investment needs to extend beyond planning officers to include the wider supporting roles such as ecologists and highways officers. Workforce shortages are affecting performance, placing strain on existing staff and reducing resilience throughout the system. Planning cannot operate in isolation. Without well-resourced services working alongside it, the system as a whole will fall short of achieving its full potential. Digital planning tools where ethical and appropriate have the potential to free up planners to plan, but they must be embedded at the core of the planning system, informed by the needs of planners and users and supported with strong leadership and co-ordination.
27. In June 2025, Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Economy and Planning Rebecca Evans MS announced a £9m investment in resourcing NRW, PEDW and the Welsh Government’s Planning Division.
28. In October 2025, Senedd Cymru passed regulations increasing planning application fees from 01 December 2025. This is a first but significant step towards full cost recovery for development management services, providing a desperately needed income boost. Strong leadership is needed by Heads of Planning, Chief Finance Officers, Chief Executives and politicians: the additional income arising from planning application fee increases must be reinvested in planning services in order to improve service delivery and achieve the outcomes our communities need.
29. To address these issues, a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy should be established for planning in Wales looking at all avenues to grow the pipeline of planners, promoting the unique value and key advantages of planning as a career in Wales. This will require significant financial investment and commitment by all parties in order to secure the essential increase in resource levels, including a commitment from LPAs to reinvest the additional application fee income arising from the December 2025 fee uplift (recommendation 5).

30. Alongside recruitment, there is also a need for targeted up-skilling initiatives to support capability, encourage career progression and ensure staff are prepared to meet evolving demands. Building a stronger workforce will be critical to future resilience. Based on our findings, recommendation 6 sets out topic areas that should be explored further for delivery on a larger-than-local footprint. Recommendation 7 relates to the potential for use of digital planning tools including artificial intelligence, where ethical and appropriate, to free-up planners to do planning, making evidence-based decisions and utilising value-based human judgement and expertise. This will require strong leadership and collaboration.

31. What the figures and data set out in this report do not reflect, is the wide-reaching societal benefit and value that the planning system delivers. It is vital that the value of planning is recognised via a long-term resourcing plan to ensure the planning system can deliver in Wales. Isolated efforts are not sufficient to drive meaningful and lasting change. All key stakeholders must work collaboratively to support, promote, and champion the value of the planning service, recognising that capacity is an essential condition for future resilience within the planning system and co-ordinated action is both essential and urgently required.

Recommendation 1: Establish a sounding board

Due to their interlinked nature, it is vital that the impact of implementing the proposed recommendations or other solutions on the wider picture is fully understood. The scope of this research did not include discussion or testing of ideas and proposals outside the public sector organisations that form part of this research. We therefore recommend that a sounding board is established to discuss the practicalities and impact of implementing the recommendations in this report. The sounding board should comprise the RTPI Cymru Planning Forum (which comprises representation from Cardiff University’s planning school, PEDW, Planning Officers’ Society for Wales (POSW), RTPI Cymru, the Wales Planning Consultants’ Forum and WG Planning Division) with additional invitations to representatives of Corporate Joint Committees (CJCs), NRW and the WLGA.

RTPI Cymru should be responsible for the development of this recommendation.

Recommendation 2: Establish a Planning Improvement Service for Wales

A Planning Improvement Service similar to the independent local government improvement service established in Scotland (see Appendix 7). It would be headed up by newly created independent Planning Improvement Champion and would:

• Develop and promote best practice and efficiencies;
• Support peer review and performance monitoring;
• Serve as a central knowledge hub for the profession;
• Support innovation and shared services where appropriate.

WG Planning Division should be responsible for the development of this recommendation. This service could be hosted by the WLGA but will require additional resource to be delivered.

Recommendation 3: Define the planning service

A clear, agreed definition is needed of the extent of planning services, clarifying which aspects of planning service delivery are within scope for full cost recovery and which aspects should remain centrally-funded public services. This is essential if we are to properly address resourcing and capacity within planning services. This could also provide a foundation for future performance frameworks, making it possible to more accurately measure outcomes and impact, identify areas for improvement and demonstrate value. Without a clear definition, we risk inconsistent data as a result of varying approaches and contexts across Wales.

WG Planning Division and POSW should be responsible for the development of this recommendation.

Recommendation 4: Collect and publish quality planning data

A commitment to regular monitoring of planning service capacity (staffing numbers, number of vacancies, and a skills survey) using the findings in this report as a baseline, as an extension to the recently recommenced national planning performance framework to support evidence-based decision-making and long-term resilience. This should include reporting on fee income as a proportion of development management service costs, the amount of additional planning fee income since December 2025 and how this additional fee income has been reinvested to improve planning service delivery. This will develop a stronger and more detailed evidence base over-time, supporting evidence-based decision-making and resilience in the long term. It will also ensure transparency and accountability for how increased application fee income is reinvested. This data should be reported on an annual basis and in an accessible digital format. It is essential that all parties submit the relevant data if we are to accurately measure the on-going health of the planning service.

WG Planning Division and LPAs should be responsible for the development of this recommendation.

Recommendation 5: Develop a recruitment and retention strategy

A comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy should be established for planning in Wales looking at all avenues to grow the pipeline of planners, promoting the unique value and key advantages of planning as a career in Wales. This will require significant financial investment and commitment by all parties in order to secure the essential increase in resource levels. This includes a commitment from LPAs to reinvest the additional application fee income arising from the December 2025 fee uplift.

The recruitment and retention strategy should include:

• Schools outreach to raise awareness of planning as a career and a review of the Built Environment GCSE to ensure planning is highlighted as a career route;
• Support for Wales’ only planning school at Cardiff University including through partnership working on outreach, recruitment, placements, support for CPD initiatives on digital planning and other areas of skills development;
• Creation of a Level 7 apprenticeship route along the lines of the successful scheme operating in England (without an age cap), to supplement the Pathways to Planning scheme;
• Support opportunities for mid-career transitioning into planning via services such as Public Practice.

WLGA should be responsible for the development of this recommendation in partnership with Cardiff University’s planning school, Local Planning Authorities and CJCs, NRW, PEDW, RTPI Cymru, Wales Planning Consultants’ Forum and WG.

Recommendation 6: Shared services

The research found successful examples of shared skills operating across Welsh LPAs. These services have developed where there is a need and capacity for the service. To move forward, the concept of shared services must be set out through clear and fully costed options that set out requirements including capacity. Without this information questions will remain and opportunities for efficiency and collaboration may be missed. Initial services could include, but are not limited to:

• A Wales-wide viability assessment and review service. This will support robust decision-making using the new all-Wales viability tool kit, providing expertise and resilience on a topic that public sector planners say they feel they lack expertise in;
• Wales-wide leadership on digital planning to explore and roll out new technology and upskill planners, securing potential economies of scale, providing resilience, maximising use of expertise and providing consistency across Wales;
• Wales-wide expertise on assessing compliance with low carbon and net zero policies, and to establish Wales-wide policies or changes to Building Regulations;
• CJC footprint expertise on large scale infrastructure projects to help with Local Impact Reports for Significant Infrastructure Projects (SIP), as well as on ecology, landscape, legal services, and transport. The legal services element should include exploring the potential for standardised S.106 agreements, expertise on compulsory purchase orders, and drafting Enforcement Notices;
• Regional or larger than local services (sub-regional) if needed for heritage and SuDS;
• Nutrient neutrality/Nutrient Management Boards on a river catchment or marine SAC basis.

LPAs, CJCs and WG should be responsible for developing this recommendation with support from the WLGA and NRW.

Recommendation 7: Digital Planning

The use of digital planning tools including artificial intelligence, where ethical and appropriate, has the potential to free-up planners to do planning, making evidence-based decisions and utilising value-based human judgement and expertise. It must be embedded at the core of the planning system in Wales, rather than approached as a supplementary element of service delivery. It should be prioritised and coordinated and should be informed by the needs of planners and service users. This will require strong leadership and collaboration.

WG (which from April 2026 will incorporate the Centre for Digital Public Services), RTPI Cymru, WLGA and Cardiff Uni should be responsible for developing this recommendation.