Understanding the challenges within the planning service in Wales

We are supporting the Welsh Government in exploring how digital solutions can enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of planning services in Wales.

To tackle this, the team have structured the project into 3 phases:

1. Pre-discovery
2. Discovery
3. Alpha

During the pre-discovery phase, we conducted research to understand the existing planning system. We identified and mapped out crucial stakeholders across the planning system.

Moving into the discovery phase, our focus was on the planning application process.

The objective was to investigate and understand the challenges and barriers within the application process.

These findings will help us shape recommendations to address issues and enhance the efficiency of the main areas of the planning system.

Our goal was to make the planning services in Wales better and more sustainable using digital or technology.

For example:

• finding out how the process works
• involving the right people
• focusing on specific areas to improve

This had helped us to suggest improvements for a smoother and more effective planning process.

Planning in Wales is complex. After talking to key stakeholders, we found various issues across the whole planning system:

• lack of resources – difficulty in recruiting and retaining experts
• inefficient IT systems
• inconsistent systems across different local planning authorities
• information difficult to understand for the user – complex policies
• poor quality of planning applications
• challenges sharing information with the public
• lack of feedback mechanisms
• public distrust
• fees not covering the application

Addressing these challenges is crucial for improving the effectiveness and accessibility of the planning system in Wales.

In discovery, we worked with Welsh Government, local planning authorities, the Royal Town Planning Institute and Welsh Local Government Association.

Pre-discovery

In the pre-discovery phase, we conducted desktop research to understand the existing planning system. We looked at different local council planning websites to understand how they work. We also identified the key stakeholders in planning.

We met planning experts to understand more. The team attended the Digital Planning Winter School in Cardiff to network and find out about new digital planning tools to improve the service.

The core team had a meeting with the Planning Policy Manager, Neil Hemmington, from Welsh Government to decide our next steps.

Now, we're focusing on making the planning application process better.

Discovery

In the discovery phase, we focused on the planning application process.

This included the user’s first touch point with the local planning authority to apply for planning permission, to the point of getting a decision.

The team also assessed the Planning Applications Wales portal for usability and accessibility.

Additionally, we mapped out the steps involved in the planning process to understand how things currently work.

To make the planning process easier to understand and use for everyone involved, we’ve identified some enhancements to the planning process:

• Create simple, user-friendly guidance: Develop clear, step-by-step instructions using plain language and visuals to help applicants and planning agents.
• Standardise policies and procedures across councils where possible: Work towards making planning policies and processes more uniform across local authorities to cut down on confusion.
• Enhance training for planning officers: Review and revise training delivered to ensure officers fully understand and consistently apply policies and legislation.
• Simplify legislation and policies: Review existing laws and policies to remove unnecessary complexity.
• Regularly update the process: Set up a system for ongoing reviews of the planning process, incorporating feedback from all stakeholders to keep things improving.

The team will look to focus on the pre-application phase of the planning process in partnering with Welsh Government and 3 local authorities in Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, and Gwynedd.

The goals for this phase include:

• gaining a deeper understanding of the pre-application process in these authorities from start to finish
• examining how the pre-application stage connects to the full planning pipeline
• identifying the needs of both local planning authorities and applicants
• pinpointing pain points within the process
• defining a minimum viable product to tackle the key issues

Following this, the team is looking to make sure designs or content created can also be shared wider to support planning across Wales.

The team will be working in the open and sharing their learnings through this process.

If you’d like to learn more about the project or get involved, email user.research@digitalpublicservices.gov.wales.