Infrastructure Wales Bill – requirements for pre-application consultation

Overall, SEUK supports enhancing community involvement during the pre-application stage, emphasizing the need for an appropriate approach and providing sufficient support to Local Planning Authorities and other statutory consultees.

While we support the new SIPs regime continuing the minimum pre-application requirement from the current DNS process, we ask for a proportionate and flexible approach to community engagement. For example, it should be relative to the project’s scale and consider statutory requirements and goodwill efforts.

It is crucial to understand the community to ensure the success of any project. We have outlined some inclusive and effective engagement methods in our response including having a project website and consultations.

We recommend the Welsh Government provide additional support, resources, and funding to stakeholders, such as Local Planning Authorities, Natural Resources Wales, and other statutory consultees to ensure proper engagement within the statutory timeframes.

Currently, planning officers often oversee large portfolios across multiple infrastructure projects. We call for Local Planning Authorities to have dedicated community engagement officers who specialize in community engagement and relaying key local concerns with developers.

To encourage good engagement between solar developers and communities, Solar Energy UK has published a Community Engagement Good Practice Guidance. We encourage the Welsh Government, Local Authorities, solar developers, and communities to review the guidance at length.

For detailed information, download our full response below.

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