3. Will the Minister make a statement on the effectiveness of TAN1? OAQ(5)0024(ERA)

The revised technical advice note 1 provides a consistent methodology for local planning authorities to annually assess their housing land supply based on the housing requirement figures set out in their local development plans.

Diolch, Cabinet Secretary. The knock-on effects, of course, of the changes to the housing land availability calculation under the revised TAN 1 are now starting to come into play for residents in Conwy and in all authorities across Wales. In response to the TAN 1 consultation, local planning authorities generally disagreed with the sole use of the residual methodology for calculating housing land supply—a method that, according to the Welsh Local Government Association, lacks a degree of realism and can be distorted by build rates to produce unrealistic and unachievable results, whilst at the same time seeing the loss of many of our greenfield sites. Given such a position, Cabinet Secretary, will you look at this in the forthcoming October review of the local development plan for local authorities across Wales and actually put some more common sense into the process? Because, believe me, the sites that are coming forward now in Conwy will be devastating and there’ll be huge losses to our greenfield sites.

I think the reason for having the revision of TAN 1, you’ve just absolutely said. I think that because sites weren’t coming forward, that was why the technical advice note was revised and I think it’s taken the cover off what was taking place before. So, I think it is bedding in now. It has set out a methodology for carrying out the review. That can be applied consistently across Wales, and I think that does provide local authorities with a key indicator for monitoring the delivery of housing to meet the requirements that are set out in their LDP.

There is a need to increase the housing supply in Wales, of course, but those houses have to be the right type of houses and they have to be in the right location in order to meet the true needs of the people of Wales. In your statement on the planning Act in July of this year, you stated that

‘The preparation of Strategic Development Plans should be given high priority by Local Planning Authorities in areas which have completed the first round of Local Development Plans and have issues which would benefit from being considered over a wider geographic area than a single Authority.’

Do I read into that, therefore, that you now see the need for the balance to be restored in the local planning system, where population projections have often been swollen out of all proportion and have led to harmful developments, first of all in our urban areas because too much greenfield land is having to be used and, secondly, in Welsh-speaking communities, where there’s a threat to the language balance?

Thank you. The strategic development plans came from the planning Act, as you said, and it was to try and get local authorities to work much more closely cross border. Unfortunately, at the current time, there doesn’t seem to be much discussion between local authorities, apart from the 10 south-east Wales local authorities in relation to the city deal—I think that’s part of their discussion around it. So, I have asked my officials to have discussions with local authorities to see what more we can do to encourage discussions regarding SDPs.

The local development plan provides residents with a framework within which to challenge planning applications and have a say in what happens in their area. Without the LDP, residents are disadvantaged and developers have the potential to ride roughshod over local authorities and residents. What measures does the Welsh Government have in place to ensure that each local authority has an LDP in place?

It’s very important that LDPs are in place. My officials monitor this very carefully. We have just a handful, now, of local authorities who haven’t got them in, and we monitor that to ensure that they come in within the timeline. What an adopted plan means is that local authorities and communities can then positively steer and influence the future to their benefit, rather than being dictated to by others, as you said.