The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Cymru is urging the next Welsh Government to prioritise investment in the planning profession if it is to deliver on its ambitions for Wales. 

RTPI Cymru is pointing to its updated State of the Profession report, published today, in a call for the new Government under First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth to back a thriving, resilient and well-resourced Welsh planning system that can deliver the homes, infrastructure and climate action Wales urgently needs. 

The RTPI’s updated State of the Profession report, which brings together the Institute’s national survey of planners and its investigation into the resourcing of the planning system in Wales, commissioned by the previous Welsh Government, finds a system under strain, with widespread overstretch and chronic capacity gaps across planning teams. 

The report reveals that 72% of respondents in Wales’ public sector lack the capacity to meet demand, following a 43% real-terms reduction in funding for local authority planning departments in Wales between 2009 and 2024. 

The report also found that 73% of Local Planning Authorities are operating with one or more unfilled vacancies, while 100% reported being stuck in “firefighting” mode, focused on managing immediate pressures rather than delivering long-term improvements. 

In its Planifesto 2026, RTPI Cymru called for renewed investment, ambition and political commitment to ensure the Welsh planning system can deliver the homes, infrastructure and climate action Wales urgently needs. 

Following the election of Rhun ap Iorwerth as First Minister, RTPI Cymru is urging the new Welsh Government to recognise that delivering national priorities will depend on a planning system with the skills, capacity and resources to support them. Without sufficient planning capacity, ambitions around housing delivery, infrastructure, economic growth and climate resilience will be difficult to achieve. 

The Cymru Planifesto 2026 emphasises that planning must be recognised and resourced as critical national infrastructure. 

Mark Hand, Director of RTPI Cymru, said: “After more than a decade of underfunding, planners are still being forced to firefight rather than plan proactively for Wales’s future. 

“First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and his Government face significant challenges and ambitions for Wales. If ministers want to deliver homes, infrastructure and sustainable places, they will need to back a strong and resilient planning system that rebuilds skills and capacity.”