Planning Permission

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 18 June 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:31, 18 June 2019

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.