Welsh farmers face years-long planning waits

Rural Welsh farmers and businesses are facing long waits for planning decisions, with some applications still unresolved more than two decades after submission.

Figures obtained by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) through Freedom of Information requests reveal significant backlogs across Wales’s rural planning authorities.

Of the 13 rural councils approached, seven responded, and all reported live applications lodged before 2022.

See also: What new planning framework means for farmers and rural businesses

Monmouthshire had the largest number of outstanding cases, with 472 applications awaiting determination.

Some of the oldest unresolved cases date back to 2005, including an application in Pembrokeshire.

Powys also reported applications that have remained undecided for more than eight years, among them a proposed free-range egg unit first submitted in 2018.

Statutory target

The data suggest many councils are struggling to meet statutory targets.

Minor applications should be decided within 56 days and major schemes within 91 days, but five of the seven authorities reported average decision times beyond those limits.

Denbighshire approved just 22% of applications within target times during 2025, while Eryri national park managed 33%.

Average determination times ranged from 122 days in Carmarthenshire to 223 days in Denbighshire.

Planning system crisis

The CLA warned that delays can have serious implications for farm businesses seeking to diversify or expand through projects such as tourist accommodation, livestock enterprises or commercial units.

Victoria Bond, director of CLA Cymru, said: “You wouldn’t ask an AI company to wait a decade to innovate. So why do we accept it in rural Wales?

“Our planning system is in crisis and fixing it must be at the top of the new government’s in-tray.”

She added that prolonged delays were restricting business growth and making it harder for younger people to remain in rural communities.

The CLA is calling on the Welsh government to increase planning department capacity and extend permitted development rights.

Welsh government response

A Welsh government spokesman said efforts were already under way to improve the long-term sustainability of planning services through a full cost-recovery model and by increasing the number of planners.

“Our plan for the first 100 days recognises that more needs to be done and we will come forward with options for reducing the complexity and bureaucracy of planning processes and for extending permitted development rights,” the spokesman said.