Pandemic leading to longer delays in NI planning decisions

That was more than twice the target time of 30 weeks, a benchmark that none of 11 local councils met, having had planning powers delegated for six years now.

Major applications are described as those with “important economic, social and environmental implications”, the Department for Infrastructure said.

Drew Nesbitt, partner at law firm Wilson Nesbitt, which specialises in real estate and large-mixed use regeneration schemes, said the slowness of the planning process — both now and pre-Covid — was holding up investment here.

"We are dealing with international markets to attract investment and create regeneration opportunities, and the fact planning takes a bit longer is a disadvantage and does affect competitiveness,” he said.

"If you compare with other regions, in England the process is much quicker. So you find investors may be asking: do I invest in NI and not get a return on my investment for a long time, or invest in another region where it can be dealt with more quickly? ”

The bulletin showed that there were 12,833 planning applications received in 2020/21, up 5% on the year before.

April to June were the months first affected by the pandemic and restrictions, when 2,309 applications were received — the lowest since the bulletin started in 2002.

But the numbers began to increase later in the year, and the 3,672 sent in the last quarter was the highest number in any quarter for a decade.

Across the year residential projects accounted for 68% of applications, with government and civic activities accounting for 6% and the rest classified as ‘other’.

Over the year, 10,483 applications were decided upon, which was down 11%.

Decisions were issued on 10,357 local, 123 major and three regionally significant applications during 2020/21

The increase in applications received was down to a 5.4% increase in local applications sent to councils, including those for home improvement projects like extensions.

And five applications were sent to the Department for Infrastructure, a fall of 54%.

The number of major applications received had also fallen by 17.4% to 123, the lowest since the transfer of planning powers to councils in 2015.

As it published the bulletin, the Department for Infrastructure said: “Planning activity and processing performance in 2020/21 were impacted by the restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"This should be borne in mind and caution should be taken when interpreting these figures and when making comparisons with other time periods.

“The volume of planning applications received and processed, and enforcement cases opened, closed and concluded, were lowest during the first quarter of the year, before increasing in subsequent quarters."

Councils were taking 17.8 weeks to process local applications, which was up 3.8 weeks on the year before.

That was beyond the target of 15 weeks, although the benchmark was being met by three out of 11 councils: Derry City and Strabane, Mid and East Antrim, and Antrim and Newtownabbey.

Among the regionally-significant applications which were settled by Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon was the decision on the North-South Electricity Interconnector.