On 18th March I wrote to Julie James MS, Minister for Housing and Local Government, asking some detailed questions about clause 1.34 of Planning Policy Wales, and how it relates to this planning application. The government’s planning directorate has decided to consider my questions as a call-in request. The result is that the government has issued a “Holding Direction” to Cardiff Council, preventing them from issuing a planning decision until the call-in process is concluded (though they can still consider the application or refuse consent).
In some special circumstances, where a planning application raises issues of more than local importance, Ministers can “call in” a planning application and effectively take over the decision from the local planning authority. You can read more about the process here. A decision will now be taken to determine whether these special circumstances apply to this planning application. If they do, the Minister will take over the decision from Cardiff Council. If they don’t, the normal planning process will continue, and my original enquiry about clause 1.34 of Planning Policy Wales will still be relevant. I’ll provide updates here as soon as I have further news.