1. What is the process followed by the Welsh Government to overturn a decision by a local authority planning committee to reject planning permission? OAQ54087

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. When local planning authorities refuse planning permission for a development, the applicant has a right of appeal to the Welsh Ministers. Most appeals are determined by the planning inspector, appointed on behalf of Welsh Ministers. A small number are recovered for determination by decision of the Welsh Ministers themselves. 

I thank the First Minister for his answer. First Minister, nobody is in a better position, surely, to make informed decisions about local planning than the people who live there. In 2016, Caerphilly councillors voted against granting planning permission for a housing development at Hendredenny. Local residents were rightly angry to see this decision overturned by a Minister in Cardiff bay, and councillors are set to vote again on this tomorrow after planning chiefs approved the application. The reality is that the infrastructure isn't there to be able to cope with 260 additional homes in terms of roads, school places and GP access. Only a fraction of these new homes are termed affordable, so the benefit to the local area seems questionable to say the least. Thirty-five letters of objection have been lodged, and there are also concerns about the impact on the environment of building on a greenfield site. First Minister, isn't it time Welsh Government reformed planning policy to make it about planning in the meaningful sense of the word, by involving local voices from the start, and building the provision of suitable infrastructure and services into development plans from the beginning rather than imposing unwanted projects on local residents?

Well, Llywydd, of course, I thank Delyth Jewell for that additional question. It's important to be clear that the right of an appeal is a statutory right. It is set out in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and the appeals process that is followed in Wales was revised as recently as 2017, and the rules that govern the appeals process here in Wales were agreed here in this National Assembly. So, I hear what the Member says about the need to revise them further, but they were revised, and they were revised here on the floor of this Assembly as recently as the year before last. The changes were designed to make the system more proportionate, cost effective, and to open it more to public participation in the appeals process. It's a very rare occurrence, Llywydd, when an appeal is recovered for determination by the Welsh Ministers. On average, about five planning appeals in any one year—less than 1 per cent of all appeals submitted to the planning inspectorate—are recovered to the Welsh Ministers, and they are recovered in circumstances that are bound by the rules. 

In the case of Hendredenny, the particular example to which the Member referred, there was no statutory challenge to the Welsh Minister's decision. People have six weeks in which they can go to the High Court to challenge that decision. No challenge was mounted. So, the decision is final. There are further matters, as Delyth Jewell said, to be determined now by the local planning authority, and I'm sure that they will bear in mind the issues that she has raised and that have been raised by local residents. 

First Minister, a similar point made by Delyth Jewell. [Interruption.] I hope I'm not causing the crying upstairs. [Interruption.] No, it's not my baby; I hope not anyway. [Laughter.]

Troy House in Monmouth is a grade II listed property, dating back to the seventeenth century, located in the Mitchel Troy ward in Monmouthshire. It's been in a poor state of decline for many years. It's been a hospital at different points in time, it's been a school, and it's currently empty. Monmouthshire County Council approved planning permission to save the building and convert it into flats, but the decision has been overturned by the Welsh Government inspector on the grounds of it being on a flood plain. Now, I know you're probably not going to be able to go into the details of that application, and I'm not asking you to, but if you've got a situation where you've got a grade II listed building that is declining each year, in a serious state of disrepair and there is a plan of some sort on the table to try and restore that building, then there's obviously great concern when the Welsh Government says that that can't go ahead. What can you do? What safeguards can you put into the planning process to make sure that, okay, when issues like this are overturned by the Welsh Government, there is protection in place to make sure that a listed building isn't simply allowed to fall into ruin and be lost to the nation?

I thank Nick Ramsay, Llywydd, for that important point. I'm familiar, as it happens, with Troy House and I understand the point that he makes about the need to take into account in planning decisions the listed status of buildings of that sort. As he says, in this instance, the Planning Inspectorate made their ruling on the grounds that it was not a suitable building for conversion into flats, because of flooding risk. And, to be clear with Members, Llywydd, the Planning Inspectorate is entirely independent of the Welsh Government. It operates through a set of rules that we lay down, but no Minister ever interferes in a decision that a planning inspector makes. The Minister with planning responsibilities has heard the points that Nick Ramsay has made, and we will look again to make sure that the rules within which the Planning Inspectorate operate take into account the points that have been made about the need to have due regard to the listed status of buildings when making those determinations.FootnoteLink

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