Welsh Government agreement to avoid planning chaos
Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter
Wrexham Council says an agreement has been reached with the Welsh Government to avoid potential planning chaos in the city.
After winning its Supreme Court battle with the Welsh Government over the adoption of the Local Development Plan (LDP), the authority was supposed to fall back on the old Unitary Development Plan(UDP).
This meant planning officers and councillors would still have the legal right to refuse applications and enforce statutory obligations like the provision of play areas, shops and schools in larger residential developments.
But next week the Senedd will debate the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Bill. Among the proposals in the bill is the scrapping of all existing, out-of-date UDPs.
Legal framework
In Wrexham, where there is no valid LDP, that would mean no adopted legal framework for the county borough. That could create a planning free-for-all, forcing the council to justify every individual planning refusal based on ‘material planning considerations’.
After talks with the Welsh Government however, Wrexham Council leader Cllr Mark Pritchard says an agreement has been reached to avoid this potentially chaotic situation.
“There’s been a commitment from the Welsh Government that that won’t happen,” he said. “There’ll be an amendment to the upcoming legislation which will allow the UDP in Wrexham to stand.
“I’d like to thank the Welsh Government for taking a common sense approach. It tells me that they’re genuinely working with us, not against us. I do believe there is a way forward here for the betterment of Wrexham.”
Legal challenge
Last month the Welsh Government finally dropped its legal challenge to Wrexham Council’s refusal to adopt the new LDP having been through the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Councillors who opposed the LDP, led by Plaid Cymru Cllr Marc Jones, were victorious but the result forced Wrexham to fall back temporarily on it’s older, outdated UDP. A replacement plan has still not been agreed.
“We’re hoping to work in true partnership with Welsh Government to resolve the issue,” he said. “I felt I was pushed into a corner by what went on here, I was very uncomfortable with it but we have to move on.
“I’m just disappointed that we had to go through all that because it was very painful.
“I put a lot on the line here – if we had lost, I’d have had to step down. It became about more than the LDP, it became about democracy, freedom of speech and what we can say in that chamber.
“I pushed it only as much as I felt we needed to. Look at the standards on the wall of the council chamber. The Dunkirk standards are there. As we mark 80 years since VE Day, people from Wrexham and across this country – across the world – lost their lives for me and anybody in every chamber to have freedom of speech and freedom to exercise democratic process.
“You can’t be threatened that you will go to jail or that there will be legal prosecutions or a cost put against your house for exercising your right as an elected member to vote. You have three options – to support, to vote against or to abstain.
“But I’m a realist, we now have to find a solution and we will find a solution. I do believe the Welsh Government are prepared to work with us and work alongside us and that’s good news for me. Those dark days are behind us.”
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It’s a boring subject for 99% of people; but planning is a good example of Welsh Labour’s mismanagement. Their legislation a decade ago is bureaucratic, unnecessarily complex and multi layered. It’s exactly what the UK government is trying to ditch.
Any examples to share?
Cardiff Parkway station. It took around three years to make a final decision. Absurd. Whatever one thinks of that particular project, it simply deters investment, prevents badly needed house building and delays infrastructure projects. Instead we “consult” around in circles.
That’s fair comment but politics not planning got in the way. Cardiff Council approved it under the existing planning system in 2022.
Equally fair comment; but we need an objective, functional system – not one subject to political whim. Wrexham is only the tip of the iceberg.
The problem was the delay. The people’s representatives should have the power to overrule in exceptional circumstances but they must act fast and decisively. I’d like to see a 90 day limit after which the decision by the lower level authority is automatically accepted. Although CP has now been approved, the world has moved on and financials have changed. They may have killed it.