Communities in rural Wales are waiting years, and in some cases decades, for planning permission to build homes and invest in their businesses, with some live applications still unresolved from 2005.
This is according to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests compiled by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). The CLA approached all 13 rural councils in Wales and in total, seven councils responded.
The CLA said the findings show:
- Missed targets: In some areas, only one in five applications are decided on time, with councils falling far short of government benchmarks.
- Decade-long backlogs: Every council is still handling cases submitted before 2022, with some live applications dating back to 2005.
- System-wide congestion: Councils are sitting on large backlogs, including one authority with 472 applications still awaiting a decision.
- Housing delivery at risk: Approval rates hover around six in ten, slowing new housing at a time of acute need.
Of the councils that did not disclose full information, Bannau and Conwy are yet to respond to Freedom of Information requests, despite the statutory 20 working day deadline having passed, CLA said.
Victoria Bond, Director, CLA Cymru, said:
“You wouldn’t ask an AI company to wait a decade to innovate. So why do we accept it in rural Wales?
“Our planning system is in crisis, and fixing it must be at top of the new Welsh Government’s in-tray. Across the countryside, businesses are full of drive, ideas and entrepreneurialism. They are hungry to build, move fast, and create jobs and homes for their communities. Instead, their plans are gathering dust in a planning system that seems almost designed to punish ambition.
“Every delay has a cost. Businesses lose money, plans lose momentum, and young people lose a chance to build a future in the communities where they grew up.
“Plaid Cymru promised rural voters less bureaucracy, clearer timelines and faster decisions. We need them to succeed. Rural Wales does not want another decade of lost growth, or of falling further behind our urban counterparts. It wants a planning system that backs ambition and lets communities build for the future.”
Councils are legally required to make decisions on minor planning applications within 56 days and major developments within 91 days. Yet five out of seven councils revealed their average response times failed to meet these targets in 2025, hampering innovation and growth in the countryside, the CLA said.
Denbighshire reports deciding one in five applications on time (21.7%), whilst Eryri National Park is managing only a third (33.3%). In Carmarthenshire, only half of applications meet target timeframes. Pembrokeshire reports meeting 74% of applications within target, below its own stated 80% benchmark on the council website.
This means lengthy waiting periods for rural communities trying to grow, the CLA warned. Average decision times range from 122 days (Carmarthenshire) to 223 days (Denbighshire), far exceeding the government target.
For a farming family trying to convert a barn into a small business unit or tourism let, that delay can mean a lost season of income, the CLA said. To tackle this, the CLA is calling on the Welsh Government to expand permitted development rights, so businesses can diversify without having to wait for full planning approval.
100% of councils that responded are sitting on cases from before 2022, including some which stretch back for decades.
Pembrokeshire has a live case dating back to March 2005, while Monmouthshire admitted to eight outstanding cases dating from 2008 to 2017. The council still has 472 applications currently awaiting consideration.
Powys also reports cases still awaiting decisions for more than eight years, including a free-range egg production unit submitted in June 2018 with more than 91 pieces of correspondence.
Eryri National Park has 119 applications outstanding since 2021. Anglesey reports more than one in five applications still awaiting a decision.
To prevent backlogs, the CLA is calling on the Welsh Government to invest in an extra two planning officers for every local planning authority including National Parks. This would speed up decisions and ensure councils can deliver overdue reform to the planning system.
Some councils are rejecting a significant number of applications for new homes, putting housing targets and rural growth at risk.
Across councils that responded, housing approval rates are stuck at around six in ten, with Denbighshire (60%), Anglesey (59%) and Eryri National Park (61%) all showing a similar picture.
In Denbighshire, some individual housing applications have taken 1,489 days (over four years) and 1,045 days (nearly three years) to reach a decision.
In Monmouthshire, a 100% affordable housing scheme submitted in November 2018 remains pending, alongside a 110-home development submitted in October 2024.
For young families trying to stay local, these delays mean fewer options and growing pressure on already stretched communities, the CLA said.
The CLA is calling on the Welsh Government to cut red tape to help build a small number of homes in a large number of villages, so families can stay in the communities they grew up in.
New polling commissioned by the CLA reveals widespread demand for change.
A CensusWide poll of 1,000 people across Wales’ most rural seats suggests that nearly three out of four agree the Welsh Government must do more to build a small number of homes in a large number of villages, while 68% agree that the planning system is delaying the jobs, homes and services people need.
A lack of affordable housing was also cited in the top three biggest issues facing rural communities in Wales.
