Blaenau Gwent Planning Committee Seeks Support for Extended Planning Application Discussions

BLAENAU GWENT planners hope that their colleagues all around Wales will join them to campaign to allow for more time to discuss planning applications of national importance.
At a meeting of the Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Thursday, September 7m councillors were informed of a letter sent on their behalf to Welsh Government planning inspectors PEDW (Planning and Environment Decisions Wales), by planning chief, Steve Smith.
This outlined concerns with the process and tight deadlines on DNS planning applications for wind turbines at sites in the county borough.
Development and estates service manager, Mr Smith said that he had received a reply from PEDW but was still waiting for one from the Welsh Government.
He will present both letters at the next Planning meeting for discussion.
Proposals classified as DNS mean that council’s such as Blaenau Gwent are a consultee rather than decision maker, with the Welsh Government deciding the application.
Inspectors will look at all the information and give advice to the Welsh Government on what decision to make.
A Welsh Government minister will then announce the decision.
Local authorities feed into the process by producing a factual Local Impact Report (LIR).
At a later stage they will give an opinion on the applciation.
At the moment Blaenau Gwent have have three live DNS applications and at least a couple more at PAC (pre-application consultation) or slightly earlier stage.
This work is on top of the usual planning caseload of staff and if reports are not submitted within five week period local authorities lose a £7,500 fee.
Blaenau Gwent have already lost one fee when an application went live over the Christmas period when people were on holiday.
This also making it awkward for the Planning committee to discuss within the deadline.
Mr Smith said: “At the moment things are coming to a head with the sheer volume of DNS applications that we’re dealing with.
“We have frustrations around the process and the time scales given to us to make our views known as a consultee providing a LIR and in expressing our views for or against a scheme.”
One of the main frustrations according to Mr Smith is PEDW’s ability to “stop the clock” on applications and pause them to “take stock” of the application while local authorities are not allowed this luxury.
Mr Smith said: “This is not an issue local to Blaenau Gwent.”
He explained that members of the planning officer society across Wales were talking to each other on the issue.
Mr Smith added that Cllr Lisa Winnett as Planning committee chairwoman is also discussing the problems with her counterparts across Wales.
Mr Smith said: “A lot of us authorities are like minded.
“We’re trying to open dialogue with PEDW and the Welsh Government and I’ll keep you informed of how it goes.
Cllr Winnett thanked Mr Smith for writing the letter.
Cllr Winnett said:  “The pressures our officers are under are unbelievable at the moment.”
She explained that members of staff were preparing another LIR while also getting ready for a planning hearing into another DNS.
Cllr Winnett said: “I’m in correspondence with a lot of local planning authorities, we’re not isolated they are all facing exactly the same problems.
“All planning departments need to be joined up on this to see if we can get a resolution.”
The committee noted the letter. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​