A DAMNING report on Carmarthenshire Council’s overspending planning department has highlighted numerous concerns.

In the middle of March this year there were 761 planning enforcement cases waiting to be dealt with, and 847 planning applications waiting to be determined – some dating back more than five years.

Audit Wales’s report said the department overspent every year between 2015 and 2020 by £1.8 million and appeared to have sufficient resources to decide applications, but that “it does not have the capacity to deal with both these and the backlog cases”.

Some applications have even been passed on to a private sector company.

Auditors said the planning enforcement backlog would continue to grow at current rates and that the enforcement service was “not sustainable” in its current form.

The report concluded: “Significant and long-standing performance issues in the planning service need to be urgently addressed to help support delivery of the council’s ambitions.”

Council leader Emlyn Dole said significant changes will be made to improve the service, with work already under way.

The council has undertaken its own external review of the planning department, which resulted in 50 recommendations.

But Audit Wales said the authority had not prioritised the resulting actions, regularly reported progress to senior officers and councillors to ensure oversight, or regularly evaluated the impact of the changes it has been making.

Auditors also cited a council risk register, which included a risk about maintaining effective planning polices – including enforcement. In September 2020, members of the council’s audit committee noted that the effective enforcement element had been removed from the register.

“Given the ongoing significant service delivery issues within planning enforcement it is unclear what the rationale was for the removal of this item from the risk register,” said the report.

A new risk around meeting statutory planning delivery targets was then added to the register and designated as “high”. This was reported to the audit committee in March this year, but auditors said the risk was “not clearly defined and it lacks clear control measures”.

Audit Wales said the planning department’s poor performance was potentially affecting the council’s ability to deliver major regeneration schemes at pace.

It advised the council to consider and plan for the potential financial risk of not determining planning applications within the prescribed timescales.

It added that the ineffective enforcement service undermined public confidence and hindered the council’s ability to meet objectives, such as biodiversity.

Audit Wales has made 17 recommendations, including a plan and timeline to sort out the planning application and enforcement backlogs, senior officers and councillors to be provided with a fuller picture of performance, and clear standards to be set out for the public to expect.

In response to the report, Cllr Emlyn Dole said the council regularly reviewed and challenged its services to ensure they were being delivered effectively.

“Alongside this (Audit Wales) report, we have sought feedback from and listened to our customers to understand their needs and frustrations,” he said.

“This has brought to the fore a number of key areas where significant change will be implemented to improve the planning service.

“This work is already well under way, with a dedicated team working through systems and procedures to streamline the way we process applications and carry out effective enforcement whilst supporting current and future development in line with national planning policy.”

A new planning hub, he added, has been set up to provide developers with a single point of contact. There is also a dedicated team to focus on major projects to support the council’s economic recovery plan and aspirations.

Cllr Dole also said current planning applications and planning enforcement issues were being accelerated.

“Planning officers are key to this work and have entered into this period of transformation and change with a commitment to improving their service delivery,” said the Carmarthenshire Plaid Cymru leader.

“They are to be commended for their willingness to review and challenge the way they work – this is not an easy process but we are confident that it will enable measurable and sustainable service improvements.”