Powys council flags strain from wind farm applications
Council warns that rising DNS wind farm proposals are stretching planning staff and budgets, jeopardising targets.
Powys County Council has warned that a surge in Development of National Significance (DNS) wind farm proposals is stretching its planning service to the breaking point.
At a meeting of the Economy, Residents and Communities Scrutiny Committee on 14 October, councillors examined a performance report covering the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year.
Measure 358 showed that only 79 per cent of planning applications were decided within the statutory time limit, well below the internal target of 90 per cent.
Measure 359 revealed that 74 per cent of enforcement cases were investigated within the 84‑day benchmark, against a target of 80 per cent.
Cllr Adrian Jones (Conservative – Berriew and Castle Caereinion) said the figures were “dropping”.
He added, “We had a local impact assessment (Local Impact Report) sent to (Planning) committee the other day (Monday – October 12) and it’s a huge undertaking.”
Jones asked whether the cost of the report was recovered from developers, prompting a response from the council’s head of planning and regulatory services, Gwilym Davies.
Davies explained that “the LIRs do impact the resource we have, in particular when we find developers submitting information over and over again”.
He said officers from several departments are forced to re‑assess duplicated data, and that specialist consultants such as landscape experts or acoustic engineers are often required, each costing “a few thousand pounds”.
“It is an issue and expense for us, and it takes officers away from planning applications,” Davies added.
Senior staff usually handle the LIRs, meaning “capacity away” at a time when staff absence is already a concern, he warned.
“The resilience of the service is affected, and we’ve highlighted this to the Welsh Government,” he said.
Some of the extra costs, Davies noted, could be covered under “planning performance agreements” – a pre‑application process where developers work with planners to resolve issues before submitting a formal request.
However, he cautioned that uptake of the scheme is low and that it “causes us concerns about the quality of applications”.
Cllr Jake Berriman (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod North), a former planning chief, echoed the concerns.
“We encourage planning performance agreements, but developers don’t always choose to go down that route,” he said.
Using the Nant Mithil wind farm DNS proposal near Llandrindod Wells as an example, Berriman described a “back and forth” process with Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) repeatedly requesting further information.
The protracted dialogue, he argued, delays decisions and inflates processing costs.
Berriman said he had raised the issue with Welsh Government local government minister Sian Gwenllian, urging a more robust approach similar to England’s Planning Inspectorate (PINS).
He warned that the expense of county planners and consultants attending public inquiries on such applications is “financially damaging to us” when all responses have already been lodged with PEDW in writing.
The council’s scrutiny committee will forward its recommendations and comments to the cabinet for further action.
With DNS wind farm proposals continuing to arrive, Powys officials say the strain on planning resources threatens to undermine the council’s ability to meet its own performance targets.