Have a look through our publications including our annual reports and accounts, research and surveys and management plans.

We support undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in carrying out a marine-based research project.

Planning is a devolved matter in Wales – meaning that Wales has its own primary planning legislation (the Planning (Wales) Act 2015), and that local planning authorities in Wales must comply with the plans and policies set by the Welsh Government.

Larger and more complex developments are usually decided by the planning committee. Each local planning authority will have its own rules as to which applications will be decided by the planning committee (called the scheme of delegation). You can find out if an application is going to be decided by committee by looking at the application information or by asking the case officer.

You can help wildlife and nature recovery by actively participating in the planning system. Rather than only reacting to potentially damaging planning applications, it’s more effective to change the policies that govern planning decisions.

Most local authorities will provide plans and other documents for a planning application online. If not, you can ask the local planning authority to send you copies. Read everything thoroughly. If you don’t understand something, you can ask the case officer or look at Planning Aid Wales.

The Wildlife Trusts believe that development should not come at the expense of our natural environment. All development, be it housing, commercial or infrastructure must be designed and delivered in a way that contributes to nature’s recovery, not its decline.

Planning permission is generally needed for any development. This means building, engineering, mining or other activity that makes changes to the use of land, or changes to existing buildings. There are exceptions that do not count as development, such as maintenance, changes to the interior of a building, agriculture, forestry and changes to gardens.

A Place Plan is a document that sets out local level planning guidance. It sits below a Local Development Plan (LDP), linking to the LDP policies, and other local plans. They are usually written by local people or town or community councils and can be adopted by a local planning authority as Supplementary Planning Guidance.