Waiting years for planning consent (From South Wales Guardian)

Waiting years for planning consent

10:33am Wednesday 8th July 2009

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SOME planning applications for listed buildings in the area are taking so long to be dealt with that a senior politician has written to the county council.

Nick Bourne AM fired off a letter to council bosses to raise issue with the length of time it was taking to deal with listed building applications in Carmarthenshire.

The county council is one of just three local authorities in Wales to be delegated power by Cadw to deal with listed building applications.

The applications should be dealt with within an eight-week timescale, but council figures seen by Mr Bourne and the Guardian recently show that, at the end of May, around 50 applications were still awaiting an outcome – in some cases, almost seven years after being submitted.

This led to Mr Bourne, who is the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, to get in touch with the council to establish why it takes so long.

A spokesman for the AM said: “Mr Bourne has written to Carmarthenshire Council regarding the issue of listed building applications.”

Carmarthenshire Council’s head of planning, Eifion Bowen, wrote back to say that records had not been updated and the figure of outstanding applications was well below the 50 mark.

A Cadw spokesperson said: “The processes followed by Carmarthenshire Council in handling applications for listed building consent made to, and determined by, the authority is a matter for the council.

“In cases of delay, there is a statutory right of appeal to Welsh ministers against non-determination.”

Mr Bowen said: “While it is true that some of the current applications are taking months to resolve, this in most cases is because of the standard of details submitted with the applications.

“Carmarthenshire is extremely proud of its historical heritage and takes its responsibilities in protecting this legacy very seriously.”

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