Understanding planning · 13 min read
Planning application documents: what to read first
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.
Wales · Local authority
PlanningTrack collects planning applications and decisions from the public planning register of Torfaen County Borough Council. Search an address, application reference or proposal. Official Torfaen website
18,988 approved · 2,431 refused · 1,070 withdrawn. Received dates in our records: 22 Dec 1982 to 4 Nov 2026. Most recent record check: 6 Nov 2026. Counts reflect the last collected status; some records may be out of date.
Contact details were found on council pages. Check the source for opening hours and which enquiries the service handles.
Explore published planning boundaries and follow their source records for designation details. Coverage varies: an empty map does not mean there are no restrictions. Check the council’s current maps and documents before relying on a boundary.
Interactive planning map loads with JavaScript. Dataset sources are linked below.
Download Article 4 coverage for all authorities (CSV)
Data downloaded 14 Sept 2026. Display boundaries are simplified and indicative. Map record counts are not a complete count of designations or directions.
Source: Welsh Government / DataMapWales. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Camera 4 Footpath Adj St James Hall Hanbury Rd Pontypool
Received 15 Jan 1997Former Council Yard Oldbury Rd Cwmbran
Received 29 Mar 1996Plot Adj To 2 Old Hses Pentwyn Lane Abersychan Pontypool
Received 17 May 1995The Village Pantry 107 The Highway New Inn Pontypool Gwent NP4 0PJ
Received 31 Mar 1995L& Adj To 34 The Alders Llanyravon Cwmbran
Received 21 Aug 1996133 Elgam Ave Blaenavon
Received 30 Jul 1996Blaenmelyn Farm Varteg Pontypool Gwent NP4 8UG
Received 6 Jun 19953 Viaduct Road Garndiffaith Pontypool Torfaen NP4 7NU
Received 2 Jun 19862 Glynavon Cottages Gallows Green Cwmavon Pontypool
Received 27 Jan 198661 Gifford CL Two Locks Cwmbran Torfaen
Received 21 Feb 200210 Lewis St Abersychan Pontypool
Received 24 Jul 199551 Springfield CL Croesyceiliog Cwmbran Gwent
Received 18 May 1995Glade Bungalow Cwmavon Rd Blaenavon Torfaen
Received 24 Jun 199949 Elgam Ave Blaenavon Torfaen
Received 24 Mar 1999Park Cottages Park BDGS Pontypool
Received 5 Nov 1998Trevethin Comp SCH Penygarn Rd Pontypool Torfaen
Received 20 Jul 199891 Llanyrafon Way Llanyrafon Cwmbran
Received 4 Oct 1993L& Adj To Ynys Lane Croesyceiliog Cwmbran
Received 23 Sept 199364 Caernarvon Crescent Llanyrafon Cwmbran Gwent
Received 23 Aug 199342 Hawkes Ridge Ty Canol Cwmbran Gwent
Received 9 Aug 1993The Fairwater Hse Fairhill Rd Fairwater Cwmbran Gwent NP4 4PY
Received 17 Feb 199528 Maesgwyn Pontnewydd Cwmbran
Received 25 Oct 1994Twyn-Gwyn Farm Penygarn Pontypool Gwent
Received 6 Jul 199417 George St Pontypool Gwent
Received 25 Mar 1994Records are ordered by application ID, not submission date. Use search to find a particular address or proposal.
View all applicationsArea alerts send a daily or weekly email with new applications and decisions near a postcode, filtered by project type. £29 a month, up to 3 areas. Records are limited to the councils we collect.
Set up an area alertStart with the address or application reference. Open a record to read the proposal, dates and available documents, then check the official register for the latest plans and consultation details. If nothing appears, check coverage before treating the result as a complete planning history.
Planning procedures in Wales differ from those in England. Use the authority’s own guidance for application requirements, comments and decision timescales.
How to search planning applications
Understanding planning · 13 min read
Understand planning application documents, officer reports and decision notices. Use a reading checklist, document table and worked example to inspect a case.

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Read planning drawings, floor plans, elevations and sections. Use labelled diagrams, a drawing comparison table and revision checks to understand a proposal.

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Understand planning approval rates with an interactive calculator, worked examples and comparison table. Check sample sizes, outcomes and coverage before comparing.
These figures describe applications collected by PlanningTrack for Torfaen County Borough Council, across all dates currently available. They are a partial dataset, rather than an authority-wide performance measure. The date range does not establish continuous historical coverage.
The approval percentage is approved records divided by approved plus refused records. Pending, withdrawn and unknown outcomes are excluded. No percentage is shown until there is an approved or refused record.
Check collection coverage