CHANGES to planning law risk sidelining the voice of the public in decisions on significant new energy projects, Senedd Members warned.

Plaid Cymru’s Luke Fletcher said accountability in planning decisions will be undermined by new regulations on major projects, known as developments of national significance (DNS).

Mr Fletcher told the Senedd the regulations will raise the threshold at which energy projects are decided by Welsh ministers from 10MW to 50MW, marking a fundamental shift.

The shadow economy secretary said: “Projects that could have considerable impacts on communities, landscapes and ecosystems will now receive less scrutiny, with the decision making process potentially expedited at the expense of … thorough democratic oversight.

“While we recognise the need for efficiency in the planning system, this cannot come at the cost of transparency and community involvement.”

Mr Fletcher told the Senedd that energy projects under 50MW can have profound effects, so it is vital communities have a meaningful voice.

“Yet these regulations risk sidelining that voice in the interests of speed and convenience,” he warned as he called on the Welsh Government to reconsider the reforms.

Raising concerns about the transfer of decision-making powers from Welsh ministers to appointed inspectors, he said: “Public confidence in the planning process depends on a system that is not only efficient but fair, transparent and open to challenge.”

He supported action to meet net-zero targets but said this must be done in a way that respects the rights of communities and safeguards the natural environment.

Mr Fletcher told the debating chamber or Siambr: “By prioritising speed over scrutiny, these regulations fail to strike that right balance.”

But Rebecca Evans, Wales’ economy secretary, said: “I’m afraid Plaid Cymru seems to have completely misunderstood the regulations which are being debated today.

“The application and determination process doesn’t change at all with the delegation of determinations to inspectors. The community engagement statutory consultees and the policy framework all remain exactly the same.”

Ms Evans, who is responsible for planning and energy, added: “Just to emphasise again that there is no change whatsoever to requirements around community engagement….

“So, the fundamental objection that Plaid Cymru has … doesn’t have any foundation at all.”

She said the regulations are an interim arrangement until the Infrastructure Act, which was passed by the Senedd this year, comes into force in September 2025.

The consenting process for major infrastructure projects will be overhauled under the Act, with the DNS system replaced by a streamlined regime.

The Senedd voted 36-12 in favour of the regulations which will come into force in January.

NATIONAL museum chiefs expressed optimism despite one of the most difficult years in its history and “major flooding” of the gallery in Cardiff during recent storms.

Jane Richardson, chief executive, told the Senedd’s culture committee that Museum Wales was excited for the future after the Welsh Government’s draft budget announcement.

She said: “We’re in a very, very different place today than we were a year ago…. we’ve been through an extraordinarily difficult year, one of the most challenging in the museum’s history.”

She stated the museum received a 3.5% or £900,000 uplift in day-to-day revenue spending, adding that employer national insurance hikes will cost about £500,000 over the year.

“We really needed about £2m as a standstill position so it is a bit of a shortfall,” she warned as she appeared before the committee for annual scrutiny on December 11.

Ms Richardson said the museum fared better on capital allocations for long-term investment, with an indication of £8m for museums in Cardiff, Swansea and Llanberis.

She told the committee: “It’s fantastic news, that money will make a really big difference. The concern we will have is how quickly we will be able to draw down that money.”

Ms Richardson, who was appointed in November 2023 shortly before a 10% cut to the museum’s budget, called for more flexibility on the museum’s project-based funding.

She pointed to the example of £1.3m announced by the Welsh Government in May for urgent repairs at National Museum Cardiff, with a grant letter arriving on December 10.

She said: “About ten days ago we had major flooding in the ground floor and into the natural science galleries. Those were spaces we didn’t know were a risk until the day of that flood.

“We desperately needed to undertake surveys to understand where the water’s coming in. So, the business case bounces back and forth over a period of time.”

Last year, Ms Richardson revealed staff were on standby overnight to move priceless art due to the risk of damage and four buckets were placed outside her office door to catch rain.

Labour’s Alun Davies, a former minister, raised concerns about the “horror show” public bodies continue to face in dealing with the Welsh Government.

He said: “It seems to me that this is almost some sort of bureaucratic nightmare.”

Ms Richardson said business cases of £2m or more can take a year to 18 months as she called for project funding to be incorporated within the museum’s core grant.

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan, who worked at the museum until her election in 2021, pressed the executive about redundancies over the past year.

Ms Richardson said the museum lost one in six staff, with 144 roles made redundant.

Asked about morale, she replied: “It has been a difficult year and there have been some dark times for our colleagues but, on the whole now, I would say morale is improving significantly.

“And there is a real sense of excitement looking forward … there’s a strong team ethos that we’ve come through together.”

Ms Richardson told the committee the museum has listened to, and sought to address, concerns about fewer people being left with the same amount of work.

The chief executive, who has dealt with four ministers in one year, confirmed site closures, further redundancies and entry charges are no longer on the table following the budget.

But she suggested charges will be introduced for underground tours at Big Pit after a trial. “That goes beyond the traditional free entry model for a museum,” she said.

Mr Davies raised concerns about fees creating a barrier to access, saying it amounts to an entry charge because most people go to Big Pit to go underground.

Ms Richardson replied: “It’s very difficult to be an organisation that has its budget cut so radically and is told it cannot generate income from the very few opportunities it has.”

She added: “I don’t have any concerns about whether this will be the right thing to do and I will be recommending it to the board on behalf of the team at Big Pit who feel the same.”

THE SENEDD rejected calls to revoke regulations restricting the prescription of puberty blockers for under-18s with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

Adam Price recognised differing views regarding puberty-suppressing hormones, known as puberty blockers, as he called for the Welsh Government regulations to be annulled.

The former Plaid Cymru leader explained the regulations effectively make participation in a clinical trial the only way to access treatment for transgender children and young people.

He told the Senedd: “As no such trial is yet available, these regulations currently deny access to puberty blockers entirely for this group of patients.”

Mr Price warned making treatment conditional on participation in trials is unfair because it places undue pressure on the child to agree.

He said: “We believe that these significant changes … should be subject to consultation, with the children and young people affected by them, because that is what the law says.”

The former MP pointed out that the Welsh Government is bound to have “due regard” to the UN convention on children’s rights, with Article 12 guaranteeing the right to be heard.

Mr Price added: “Article 3 of the UN convention requires that the best interests of the child are the primary consideration in all actions affecting children.”

He said no consultation nor children’s rights impact assessment was conducted.

He warned transgender children are being treated differently with their access to puberty blockers restricted, arguing this is contrary to the Equality Act 2010.

Mr Price drew a parallel with a High Court ruling in March that a Welsh Government decision to stop free school meals in holidays was unlawful.

He said: “These regulations show the exact same failings: a lack of consultation, a failure to conduct impact assessments and insufficient regard for children’s rights and equality….

“The Senedd has the opportunity tonight to send a clear message to the government: the first imperative in making any law – and especially a law that affects the young – is to listen, which it has signally failed to do in this case.”

Conservative Sam Rowlands raised the Cass review which found “no good evidence of the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress”.

The shadow health secretary warned not enough is known about the long-term impacts of puberty blockers for children and young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

Julie James, who is counsel general, the Welsh Government’s chief legal adviser, said the proportionate regulations were in response to the Cass review of gender identity services.

She told the Senedd: “The Welsh Government continues to be driven by the evidence to best support the needs of young people who are questioning their gender.”

Ms James said the law prevents GPs from prescribing puberty blockers to under-18s, with exceptions for trials and prescriptions from before the legislation came into force on July 18.

The former solicitor raised case law showing the state does not breach the European Convention on Human Rights by refusing to authorise a particular treatment.

She argued ministers had no duty to consult and due regard was given to children’s rights under the UN convention, which was incorporated in Welsh law in 2011.

Caerphilly MS Hefin David raised the experience of a constituent accessing services in Bristol which they found “severely wanting”.

The Labour backbencher said he would vote with the Welsh Government for technical reasons but added: “I think we need more passion from the government on these issues and I’m deeply disappointed by the counsel general’s contribution.”

Mr Price told the Senedd the NHS has no plans to establish a youth gender identity service despite a commitment in the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ action plan.

He said: “I really think the government needs to look at this with some urgency even if they win the vote tonight – they need to look at the broader policy.”

Senedd members voted 36-12 against annulling the regulations on December 10.