In reforming planning policy in Wales, we will:
- Take a community-centred approach that protects and strengthens local leadership in setting planning priorities.
- Reform consultation processes so communities have real power to influence local development plans, and ensure these plans can be amended in response to real-time changes in local housing needs.
- Reduce the complexity and bureaucracy of planning processes, providing greater clarity and firmer guarantees on consenting timelines, and extending permitted development rights, including for community-led housing and energy projects, and small-scale renewables.
- Draw on best practice and promote more effective use of Section 106 agreements to strengthen the planning process itself – improving clarity, speeding up decision-making, and ensuring development delivers tangible local benefits.
- Embed consideration of the Welsh language in the planning system, working with local authorities to implement the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities’ recommendations on town and country planning.