3 days ago
- Politics
- Business News Wales
Will Planning Become an Election Battleground in Wales?
It's been nearly a year since Labour took over at Number 10 and in that time, it has made sweeping changes to the planning system.
In its effort to 'Get Britain Building Again' the changes seek to enhance housing delivery and to amend long established Green Belt policy to allow housing development in appropriate circumstances.
However, the changes to the planning system in England will not impact Wales as planning is devolved to Welsh Government.
Unlike England, Wales has had no mandatory housing targets since the removal of TAN1 in March 2020 which required local authorities to produce joint housing land availability studies, and changes in national policy (Planning Policy Wales) which removed the need to have a five-year housing land supply. This was replaced by monitoring housing delivery based on trajectories set in Local Development Plans (LDPs), which – based on the Welsh housing delivery figures – has not been successful in meeting the challenge of providing sufficient new homes since 2020.
Although there are now Labour Governments in both Wales and England, this does not mean there is an increased likelihood Wales will be influenced by English policy. It seems likely the current system in Wales will be in place for the foreseeable future.
For the current housing delivery approach in Wales to work effectively it requires up-to-date LDPs that take forward the new standards in relation to housing requirements introduced in 2020, deliverable allocations and the formulation of robust housing trajectories.
Of the 22 LPAs in Wales only four have an up-to-date plan which accounts for the changes for monitoring housing delivery (Bridgend, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil and Wrexham). Wrexham is a special case, with an ongoing legal battle between the council and Welsh Government which has now reached the Supreme Court, placing uncertainty on whether the recently adopted plan will be withdrawn.
Without up-to-date LDPs or an alternative national policy approach there is little incentive in Wales to ensure that LPAs are delivering the required amount of housing.
This has led to annual completions being below targets, with 2023/24 completions equating to 5,161 dwellings. This is set against Future Wales: National Plan need of 7,400 dwellings per annum over the first five years of the plan – which has not been met in any year since its adoption.
Although the initial implementation of Welsh Labour's housing delivery policy through the planning system did not deliver the intended result due to slow delivery of new LDPs, 18 councils are reviewing their plans, with adoption for most of these planned by 2026/27.
Once adopted this may lead to the increased housing delivery Welsh Labour hoped for, primarily managed through allocations. Or it will demonstrate that without a national exception policy to allow speculative development to meet the ever-growing housing need, housing growth in Wales will continue to be stymied.
Currently, the UK Government is taking steps to address the housing shortfall within England. However, it appears in Wales that the Welsh Government has yet to address the housing shortfall with the current policy approach. Without a step change in Welsh Government thinking it is unlikely the situation in Wales will change.
With Welsh Government elections looming in May 2026, housing delivery may become a similar key policy issue for political parties, mirroring the political battlegrounds of the Westminster elections. For all involved, the stakes remain high and the housing crisis in Wales rumbles on.
Whether Welsh Labour or another political party can deliver housing at scale via the planning system remains to be determined. However, we will see if the elections crystalise the issue.
