Devastating Brecon Beacons National Park Report

9.48.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st Jan 2008

A damning independent report has slammed Brecon Beacons National Park Authority's planning application procedures for having "systematic failings".

Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Brecon & Radnorshire Kirsty Williams said: "This report states quite clearly that senior managers at the National Park Authority have let down the people they serve. It's time they considered their position."

The independent inquiry, commissioned by the Park Authority, looks at a planning application relating to Gilestone Farm, Talybont-on-Usk, Powys. The report criticises the Authority for routine failings including:

insufficient investigation into applicants unsupported claims;

dire processing and documenting of the application and its supporting documents; the insufficient consultation with Powys County Council and the public;

inadequate verification of an applications exact details;

frequently lengthy periods for decision making with a high number of extensions;

lack of documentation of consultative processes and evidence of the thinking; the lack of audit trail;

poor handling of complaints;

shortage of legal advice taken.

The report makes 29 recommendations; from systematic improvements to administrative and filing procedures; reviewing the unclear role of the 'delegated panel' as a matter of urgency; improving staff's access to and understanding of procedures and policies; properly tendering contracts for external work; reviewing its complaints procedures; reviewing its processes and procedures for officers' declarations of interest; that the Park's auditors investigate the possible implications of the absence of documents from the Gilestone file.

Local AM Kirsty Williams commented: "I have called for an urgent statement from Jane Davidson, the Minister responsible for planning in tomorrow's plenary session and I am also seeking an urgent meeting with her and her officials.

"If this report related to a school or social services department it would be put into special measures. Brecon Beacons National Park can no longer be allowed to let residents down in this way.

"I am worried that junior members of staff should not take the fall for this damning report when senior managers are paid to take responsibility for the organisation.

"The authority has recently benefited from a new and proficient Head of Planning however I am concerned that as it stands he will not have sufficient structures or the support of senior members of staff to carry out his job to the best of his ability.

"In light of this report it is perhaps now time for senior managers at the Park to seriously consider their position."

As well as problems relating specifically to the Gilestone planning application, the report raises wider concerns arising from the fact that "few of the officers were fully qualified and that the burden on senior officers was therefore immense. Office procedures were ad-hoc and officers were, to a large extent, self-reliant for administrative support. The office manual was defunct and team meetings were informal at best. There were no standard procedures or practices." The report calls for "Recruitment and retention issues …(to be)... addressed as a matter of urgency."

The independent report finds that the "Lack of records clearly makes subsequent enforcement or litigation extremely difficult." There are also concerns that files are "allocated on an 'interest' basis, with the managers taking 'interesting' files and the rest left to other team members…there were often unallocated files in the office and that these were then given to an external planning consultant who simply called into the office and took any files that had not been 'allocated' to an officer of the Park…some files are simply not dealt with, or are dealt with inappropriately. It is likely to be both inefficient and expensive."

Within the Gilestone case folder there was found to be "a large number of documents missing from this file, In addition, whilst it is not necessarily possible to infer the existence of all the matters apparently absent from the file, there are no working notes, no handwritten notes and none of the usual working paraphernalia normally associated with files of this type." The report construes that "this file has been 'cleaned' in the sense that all drafts and casual notes and other such documents have been deliberately removed. In addition, it is possible to infer, from a number of documents found on other files within the Park, and from copies supplied by members of the public, that at least some of these documents went missing from the file towards the end of 2006."

Notes:

Report details:

GILESTONE REPORT; Independent Inquiry; Gilestone Farm: Planning Application number P20617, Julie James, Clarkslegal; 20th December 2007

The report was discussed at a Park meeting on Monday 28th January.