Statutory public consultations

STATUTORY PRE-APPLICATION CONSULTATION

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE) (WALES) (AMENDMENT) ORDER 2016

The development management system in Wales has introduced a statutory requirement to undertake pre-application consultation, prior to the submission of full or outline applications to the relevant local planning authority, for ‘major’ development projects.

A major development is defined in the legislation as:

  • The provision of 10 or more dwelling houses;
  • An outline application with a site area of 0.5 hectares or more and where the proposed number of dwellings has not been specified;
  • The provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more; or
  • Development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more.

This new legislative requirement for pre-application consultation derives from the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 and is governed by the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2016, which came into force on 1st August 2016. This requires the applicant / developer to consult with the community and relevant statutory consultees for a period of not less than 28 days prior to the submission of the associated planning application.

The specific consultation requirements are set out below:

Legislative Requirements

  • Display a site notice in at least one place on or near the land to which the proposed application relates for not less than 28 days before submitting the planning application.
  • Write to any owner or occupier of any land adjoining the land to which the proposed application relates. The letter must state that they have a minimum of 28 days to make a representation to the applicant at this pre-application stage.
  • Make the draft planning application information available publicly for the full 28 day period. This has to include all of the information needed for a valid application and the draft Environmental Statement, if one is required.
  • Consult community and specialist consultees before applying for planning permission. Community consultees comprise of each community and town council and/or each Councillor representing an electoral ward in which the proposed development would be situated. Specialist consultees are those listed in Schedule 4 to the Town and County Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012 as amended by the 2016 Order.

Detailed guidance on the requirements for pre-application consultation under Section 17 of the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 can be found in Article 1 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2016.

Following the consultation exercise, and as part of any related planning application submitted to the local planning authority, the applicant / developer is required to demonstrate that the necessary pre-application consultation has been carried out by way of submitting a Pre-Application Consultation Report (PAC) with the planning application. This document will be able publicly available by the local planning authority as part of the planning application package.