Meetings

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-881 Fix our planning system and agreed to await an announcement of the Minister for Housing and Local Government’s decisions following the consultation on revisions to the housing section of Planning Policy Wales, which closed in November 2019 before taking any further decisions.

The Committee discussed the evidence provided by the Minister for Housing and Local Government and agreed further actions on each of the petitions discussed.

The Committee heard evidence from the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Neil Hemington and Stephen Phipps.

The Committee agreed to group this petition with P-05-881 Fix our planning system for future consideration, and to return to both petitions once an announcement has been made by the Welsh Government about the next steps in relation to its review of the delivery of housing through the planning system.

·         Julie James AM  - Minister for Housing and Local Government

·         Neil Hemington – Head of Planning, Welsh Government

·         Stephen Phipps - Local Government Projects Officer, Welsh Government

The Committee considered further correspondence on the petition and agreed to invite the Minister for Housing and Local Government to attend an evidence session with the Committee at a future meeting to discuss this and several other petitions relating to planning policy.

The Committee agreed to:

·         write to the Minister for Housing and Local Government to request an update on the review of Delivery of housing through the planning system, an indication of timescales for the completion of the review, and confirmation that paragraph 6.2 of TAN 1 will remain disapplied during that time; and

·         consider holding an evidence session with the Minister on several planning-related petitions at a future meeting.

The Committee considered correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs and agreed to discuss the possibility of inviting the Cabinet Secretary to give oral evidence on the petition in the future, during a discussion on the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.

The Committee considered correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs together with further comments from the petitioner and agreed to:

·         write to the Cabinet Secretary to:

o   share the petitioner’s concerns about the impact of the application of TAN 1 on Local Development Plans, in the context of the current consultation on Draft Planning Policy Wales;

o   request further information about research into the issues with the determination of housing land supply referred to in her letter of 6 March; and 

·         schedule oral evidence sessions on the petition for later in the summer term.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to provide the detailed comments from the petitioner to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs for her consideration, and ask for a response in particular to the suggestions made by the petitioner about possible alternative approaches to calculating land supply.

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to await the views of the petitioner on the response provided by the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs before considering any further action.