29 May 2009
By David Meilton
The three Welsh National Park authorities have been criticised for failing to deal quickly enough with planning applications.
A Welsh Audit Office report, published on May 27, said that the Brecon Beacons authority had significantly reduced its planning backlog and improved the speed of decision-making. Brecon was heavily criticised in 2008 for lack of robust procedures and poor quality control.
But the WAO called on Brecon, Pembrokeshire Coast and Snowdonia to provide more public information and improve the way they deal with peaks in workload. They also needed to continue to address other failings, including performance assessment and demonstrating value for money.
Auditor general Jeremy Colman said: ‘It’s good to see that all three Welsh National Parks are recognising the need to make changes to improve the speed of decision-making for planning applications.
‘But they are all still some way off the mark and performing badly compared with the rest of Wales. They need to sharpen their focus and build on planned improvements.’
