Phosphate issue hampering planning applications – average of 155 days to decide application locally

Wrexham Council’s Planning process is seeing “a significant step in the right direction”, with the Lead Member pointing out although Wrexham lags behind some authorities on applications determined on time, it is still ‘good’ based on national measures.

The data looks at three key indicators: the percentage of planning applications decided on time, the average number of days it takes to decide a planning application, and the number of decisions that have been taken by councillors going against planning officer’s advice.

Wrexham is 17th across Wales with just 82% of all applications determined on time.

In other tabled data Wrexham is 19th on the table showing average number of days to decide an application (155).

Wrexham is 19th on the decisions contrary to officer recommendation table (13) – with most of the other councils in Wales on zero.

We asked Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Planning Cllr Terry Evans why he believed Wrexham was performing so poorly compared to other local authorities in Wales, and what is being done to fix it, and when they expect that change to be reflected in the stats.

Cllr Evans said, “The latest figures indicate that Wrexham Planning Service determines 82% of planning applications within 8 weeks. This is above the 80% target set by Welsh Government as the performance indicator for a ‘good’ rated service.

“In context, twelve months ago, before the appointment of a new Chief Officer and a new Head of Development Management, along with the recruitment of several Planning Officers at various levels, a high number of posts in the Planning Team were vacant and as a result, this performance indicator was 52%.

“The progress made is a significant step in the right direction and the Team have an Action Plan to address a backlog of cases and deliver ongoing improvements.”

“The average amount of time taken to determine all planning applications has also been hampered by the phosphate issue; with Wrexham being the most affected Local Authority in Wales because of our relationship with the River Dee and Bala Lake Special Area of Conservation.

“However, we are hopeful of positive developments in this regard shortly.

“I should point out that timeliness is only one measure of a good Planning Service. Very few of the appeals made against our planning decisions are successful, which is a strong indicator of sound and robust decision making.”