What’s gone wrong with planning in Wales?

Twice in the past fortnight senior UK business leaders have taken a swipe at how Wales handles planning issues. And both think that the result is a lack of investment that could be hurting the Welsh economy.

First, the chief executive of energy giant Scottish and Southern Energy, Ian Marchant, warned that investment in wind power in Wales will be lost ‘unless the gap between the rhetoric and reality of support it actually receives is narrowed.’ In other words, there needs to be realistic backing for wind farms beyond the confines of Cardiff Bay.

Then Redrow chairman Steve Morgan praised the UK government’s attempts to rejuvenate the housing market but said the conditions were not the same in Wales partially because of “onerous planning and regulatory burdens”.

So, very different businesses but both think Wales is stifling development – through a burdensome planning regime and a lack of government support.

There’s no doubt that getting planning approval for major projects in Wales can take a very, very long time compared with other parts of the UK. Everything we build is likely to be near someone and is not always popular. Getting planning approvals in Wales is often an adversarial slog that can take years.

Mr Marchant compared today’s situation on energy development in Wales with that of Scotland eight years ago. The Scottish Government has the final say on whether large infrastructure projects go ahead, whereas in Wales and England we have a different system.

Scots then saw green energy investment as an engine of growth, he said, and so the planning process was speeded up. Now, a wind farm in Scotland can take just 18 months from application to determination. In Wales “it is five years and counting.” Wales seems to be lagging behind – whatever your view on wind energy.

Mr Morgan bemoaned the fact that the UK Government’s NewBuy initiative isn’t available to potential homebuyers in Wales, so slowing a return to health of the housing sector. He added that another problem is “the increased build cost in the principality due to the more onerous planning and regulatory burdens.” He went on to say that if the proposed changes to the Welsh Building Regulations take effect the situation “will get substantially worse”.

Warwick Emanuel PR has managed communication programmes for many energy and construction projects. In many cases the planning process has moved at a snail’s pace. This delay and its associated cost, coupled with a lack of overt political support in the constituencies, can blunt investors’ enthusiasm. The uncertainty of having to plan for energy market conditions so far into the future is also a worry.

We have the client experience of serious investors who became so exasperated that they walked away – and took their project to the north east of England.

As Mr Marchant said, “Money is like water as it finds the easiest path, and the risk that Wales has is that money for renewable energy just says it is easier somewhere else.

“A marginal site in Scotland is a better bet than a good site in Wales… because I [from an investor’s perspective] will get that one done, whereas in Wales I just don’t know. I genuinely have concerns for Wales.”

Something has gone badly wrong if we are driving investors away. Perhaps it’s time to have a serious look at our planning systems and consider first and foremost the needs of the Welsh economy.

Wynford Emanuel

Warwick Emanuel PR

Sources: Wales Online and Business Insider