How to find planning applications in Wales

Planning is devolved in Wales, so while the day-to-day experience of finding an application feels similar to England, the system behind it answers to the Welsh Government, follows Welsh policy and uses different bodies for appeals. Here is where to look and what is different.

Where applications are published

Wales has 25 local planning authorities: the 22 county and county borough councils, plus the three national park authorities for Eryri, Bannau Brycheiniog and the Pembrokeshire Coast. Inside a national park, the park authority decides applications, not the county council, so check which one covers the address before you search.

Each authority runs its own online register, reached from its website under planning, holding the application, drawings, consultation responses and the decision. Authorities publish bilingually, and you can submit comments in Welsh or English with equal standing. Weekly lists of new applications are published in the same way as in England.

Searching, and keeping watch

Registers search best on a reference number; our reference number guide explains how to read one. By address, try the postcode first and widen from there. The portals share the same weaknesses as English ones: expiring sessions and no stable page addresses. Applications indexed here get permanent pages instead; start from the list of councils, which covers the Welsh authorities alongside the rest of the UK, or set up an alert to get new applications near you by email.

What is different from England

Policy comes from Cardiff, not Westminster: Planning Policy Wales and the Future Wales national plan set the framework that development plans and decisions must follow, with Technical Advice Notes covering subjects like flooding and design. Permitted development rights differ from England in places, so something buildable without permission over the border may need an application in Wales, and vice versa.

The largest schemes, such as big energy projects, are Developments of National Significance and are decided by Welsh Ministers rather than the local authority, though they still appear in local consultation.

Appeals go to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, known as PEDW, which acts for the Welsh Ministers; England's Planning Inspectorate plays no role. An applicant refused permission has six months to appeal and pays no fee. PEDW publishes its casework online, so a refusal near you may have a second act worth following.

Responding to an application

Comment windows and the weight given to comments work as they do elsewhere in the UK: planning matters count, everything else is set aside. Our guide on objecting to a planning application applies in Wales, with the caveat that the policies to cite are the Welsh ones above. For timescales once an application is in, see how long decisions take.