This article by DPP Wales first appeared in the Western Mail on 20 January 2010.

The government in Westminster issued new planning policy in England on 29 December 2009 aimed at making the planning system more supportive of economic growth.  The new guidance establishes a principle in favour of development that secures sustainable economic growth and moves England yet further ahead of Wales in providing planning policy that supports new investment.

The new policy is designed to make it easier to secure planning consent for appropriate job creating development, including industrial, office, retail, leisure and community schemes.  It sits alongside a number of other changes to the planning system in England designed to remove some of the red tape that has increasingly burdened those wishing to bring forward new development.

The Welsh development sector has often highlighted the difficulties faced by developers in negotiating the requirements of planning policy in Wales, yet the Welsh Assembly has repeatedly said that it has no plans to amend and update its planning guidance – a decision that is likely to have a detrimental effect on development schemes in the Principality.

One of the key areas of change to the English guidance is the abolition of the requirement for developers to have to prove a 'need' for new town centre uses such as shopping or leisure development. 

The abolition of this need test followed the recommendations of the Barker Review of the English planning system in 2006 which saw it as a "blunt instrument" and a potential barrier to new investment and retail choice.  

Whether you love or hate new retail development, in the absence of any other sources of major funding it must be recognised that it is often the catalyst for regeneration in Wales.  For example, the Cardiff City stadium development at Leckwith, the Sports Village in Cardiff Bay and the Morfa stadium scheme in Swansea may not have gone ahead without the retail parks and supermarkets that accompanied them.

There are those in England who have feared that the removal of the need test would create an open season for retail development on the edge of towns.  However this is unlikely as the new policy demands that development can only go ahead where it is shown that it would not cause significant harm to town centres and local shops and that there are no sites within or next to town centres that could accommodate the development.

The new policy is far from perfect.  As with all government guidance it is wordy, contradictory in places and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.  The focus on positively encouraging job creating development is however to be applauded and is one that the Assembly Government would do well to follow.  In this economic climate Wales cannot afford to be burdened with planning policies and a planning system that make the Principality a less attractive place to invest.