Expired planning policy will still guide Welshpool traveller site decision

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The now expired Powys Local Development Plan (LDP) is still a material planning consideration when deciding planning applications, councillors have been told, including the controversial search for a new traveller site in the Welshpool area. 

When the 2025/2026 financial year ended on March 31, the Powys LDP, which covered 2011 to 2026, “dropped dead”, and it had been expected that a new “replacement” LDP would take over and guide housing and industrial development in the county up to 2037.

But a number of snags have cropped up and caused long delays in the formation of the new LDP, which is estimated to cost around £2 million.

The concern is that without an LDP, the county could become a planning “Wild West”, with developers able to take advantage of the situation and build wherever they like before a replacement LDP comes into force.

But councillors have been told this will not be the case.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s planning committee yesterday, before councillors started debating the merits of applications brought in front of them, they were provided with advice from officers on how to deal with applications during the interim period between LDPs.

Committee Chair, Cllr Gareth D Jones (Powys Independents – Llanfair Caereinion and Llanerfyl), said that the update on the state of the LDP was being given to “give us all assurance and confidence that we’re making decisions within policy”.

Development Management Team Leader, Gemma James, said: “You are aware that the LDP had an end date of March 31 this year. A document has been put together which outlines and hopefully gives you assurance that the LDP was fully scrutinised at public examination and was found to be sound by a planning inspector at that time.

“As such, post March 31, the LDP will remain a material consideration for the planning authority and other decision makers to have regard to when determining planning applications.

“Legal precedent confirms a time-expired LDP continues to have legal status and forms a sound basis for planning decisions until it is replaced.”

She added that from now on planning officers’ reports will include a paragraph “confirming” their considerations, including assessing applications in line with the national planning framework.

The committee noted the comments.

The council started work on its replacement LDP in 2022, but progress has been hampered for a number of reasons.

These include the need to find a new Gypsy and Traveller site in north Powys in the Welshpool area, and the possible creation of a new national park in the north-east of Wales, which includes a small part of Powys, has also posed a headache and is one of the reasons why the council is strongly against the proposal.

If the Glyndŵr National Park Authority is created, it would trigger an automatic review of the LDP, which could see Powys having to start work on the replacement LDP from scratch.