Committee Chairman Requests Comparison of Powys Planning Performance

A COMMITTEE chairman has asked for more details of Powys’s planning department’s performance in order to compare it against other Welsh planning authorities.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning committee on Thursday, April 25 councillors received a report on the departmental performance of dealing with planning applications.
Powys along with all other Wales’s local authorities and the national park authorities of Bannau Brycheiniog, Eryri and Pembrokeshire Coast report their planning performance to the Welsh Government for every quarter.
At the meeting committee chairman, Cllr Karl Lewis asked planning professional lead officer, Peter Morris if he had “detailed access” of other planning authorities performance data?
Cllr Lewis said: “On the next report could we have a comparison if that’s available.
“We need to be shouting a bit more about the good work being done in Powys.”
Mr Morris said that he could not offer the data for other authorities, but a link to information on Welsh Government website could be provided.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has scrutinised the available public data – which shows that comparing Powys with all 24 other planning authorities in Wales is already possible.
The Welsh Government publishes a development management quarterly survey which shows the data across a variety of performance indicators from across the country.
Details are given for numbers of planning applications decided on time – including percentages, also the average days it takes for an application to be decided.
From the government data:
From April to June 2023/2024, Powys were better than the Wales average and decided 90 per cent of applications within the statutory eight-week period, or an extended time agreed with an applicant.
This meany that Powys were in ninth position in the table and the Wales average for this quarter was 86 per cent.
Caerphilly County Borough Council were top of the table with 99 per cent, while Flintshire County Council came bottom having not given any data.
On the average days to decide an application Powys took 159 days, which was well above the average of 103 days.
The top council was Caerphilly who took 68 days.
The only authority worse than Powys was Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority who took 185 days, although Neath Port Talbot Council, Eryri National Park Authority and Flintshire had not given any data for this measure.
Going on to the July to September Powys were just below the national average and decided 85 per cent of planning application within timescales.
Again, the national average was 86 per cent and claiming top spot was Pembrokeshire County Council who recorded 98 per cent.
Powys were in 14th place in the table.
On the average days to decide an application, Powys took 154 days, which was well above the average of 110 days.
The top position was taken by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council who took an average of 65 days.
Powys had slightly climbed the table with four authorities below them including Wrexham County Borough Council who recorded 179 days with Flintshire propping up the table again recording no data.
Going on to the third quarter from September to December Powys were better than the national average and decided 88 per cent of planning application within timescales.
The average was 85 per cent and Caerphilly returned to the top spot recording 99 per cent with Flintshire and Cyngor Gwynedd propping up the table having no data recorded.
On the average days to decide an application Powys had seen a considerable improvement and took 102 days, which was better than the average of 115 days.
This saw Powys soar up the table to 11th place, and the top spot was claimed by Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council who took 74 days. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​