Welsh Government commits to accelerating infrastructure planning

Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Evans MS has announced plans to improve to the planning system, as Wales seeks to deliver on its decarbonisation, renewable energy and green jobs ambitions.

Speaking to representatives from across the renewable energy sector at the Future Energy Wales conference at ICC Wales, the Cabinet Secretary outlined plans to:

• Allow Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) to take decisions on renewable energy projects up to 50MW, reducing the end-to-end decision time by at least 12 weeks

• Improve the capacity and resilience of planning services by starting to address the shortage of planners at both local and national levels

• Enhance Government planning resource to ensure that Developments of National Significance (DNS) applications can be considered quicker