Carmarthenshire council: 'Significant' planning problems

The head of planning has left Carmarthenshire council following a report on overspending, BBC Wales has been told.

In March, 761 enforcement cases and 847 planning applications were yet to be dealt with, some dating back more than five years, according to a report.

Audit Wales said it overspent between 2015 and 2020 by £1.8m.

Council leader Emlyn Dole said significant changes will be made, with work already under way.

Head of planning Llinos Quelch is understood to have has left her post with Noelwyn Daniel taking over on an interim basis.

Auditors said the department appeared to have sufficient resources, but "does not have the capacity to deal with both these and the backlog cases".

Some applications have even been passed to a private company.

The report said the backlog in enforcement - where the council takes action when there is a breach of planning rules - would continue to grow and the service was "not sustainable".

"Significant and long-standing performance issues in the planning service need to be urgently addressed," it said.

Mr Dole said the council has undertaken its own review which resulted in 50 recommendations but Audit Wales said the authority had not prioritised the resulting actions.

They said an item about the issue of planning enforcement was removed from the council's risk register and they were unsure why, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A new risk was added but the report said it was "not clearly defined and it lacks clear control measures".

Audit Wales said the department's poor performance was potentially affecting the council's ability to deliver major regeneration schemes at pace, and undermined public confidence.

It made 17 recommendations, including a plan and timeline to sort out the planning application and enforcement backlogs, senior officers and councillors to be provided with a fuller picture of performance, and clear standards to be set out.

Mr Dole said the council regularly reviewed and challenged its services.

"Alongside this report, we have sought feedback from and listened to our customers to understand their needs and frustrations," he said.

"This has brought to the fore a number of key areas where significant change will be implemented to improve the planning service.

"This work is already well under way, with a dedicated team working through systems and procedures to streamline the way we process applications and carry out effective enforcement whilst supporting current and future development in line with national planning policy."

A new planning hub has been set up to provide developers with a single point of contact and there is a dedicated team to focus on major projects.

Current planning applications and planning enforcement issues are being accelerated, Mr Dole said.