11. What consideration does the Welsh Government give to the views of healthcare providers during the planning process? OAQ52662

Thank you. Local health boards are a specific consultation body set out in local development plan regulations. They provide advice to local planning authorities on the land requirements for the development of their own estate and the ability of new development to be served by existing and proposed health facilities.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. You'll know that I've written to you about this matter that, in practice, very little happens in terms of consultation with the health boards. Many of them do not engage with it properly and it certainly doesn't feed down to the general practice level.

In a number of recent applications involving substantial planning developments in my constituency what we actually found out was that the GP practices themselves are not engaged in the process—they are not statutory consultees, even though the ability to provide vital health services in those communities are important. And we've had GP practices telling us that if certain developments go ahead, they will not be able to deliver the level of health service, and it will have an adverse impact. Isn't it about time that we actually changed the process now so that, when we have such applications—and there are many of them going on in the Taff Ely area—there is a direct and statutory consultation process, engaging with those vital public services, in particular the health services that have such vital information to give, to be taken into account when consideration is given to whether or not to give planning permission?

Well, you will have heard me say in an earlier answer to Bethan Sayed that I am looking at whether health boards should be mandatory consultees in this decision making. I think, in many cases, the capacity of primary care facilities is really an important, material consideration when you are planning the merits of having a development in a certain area.

I do expect local health boards to be engaged in the preparation of LDPs with planning authorities, given their responsibility, obviously, for providing primary care services for the local population. I think it's really important that GP surgeries, on an individual basis, feed into that process also.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.