Publication of Northern Ireland Planning first Quarterly Development Management Statistical Bulletin - 2011/12

In the period April – June 2011/12, just under 4000 applications were received which is around half the level of four years ago. In particular, planning applications for residential development are down by 28% to 2,350 compared with 4,400 in the first quarter of 2007/08. Commercial applications have also seen a sharp decrease in recent times, down by 62% from 427 in the first quarter of 2007/08 to 164 currently.

Planning performance, in terms of application processing times, for major, intermediate, and minor applications for quarter 1 2011/12 were all lower than the levels achieved for the corresponding quarter last year.

The key points to note in the bulletin are:

1. Applications received

· In quarter 1, Planning received 3,943 planning applications. This is a decrease of 17% compared with the same period last year. The majority of applications are for residential development, and at 2,350 make up three fifths of all application types received.

2. Applications decided

· Planning issued decisions on 3,563 applications in the first quarter of 2011/12, a fifth fewer than same time period last year (4,465).

· The number of decisions issued for full planning permission applications decreased by just over 800, from 3,577 to 2,775 (down 22%) compared to last year.

3. Applications approved

· Overall, 92% of all applications decided in the first quarter of 2011/12 were approved. Approval rates varied across Local Government Districts, from 81% in Omagh, to 99% in Cookstown.

4. Applications received for residential development

· The number of applications for full planning permission in urban areas fell by 454 (35%) when compared with quarter 1 in 2010/11, from 1,299 to 845.

· The number of applications for full planning permission in rural areas also fell during the same time period, from 1,273 to 952, a 25% fall.

5. Applications decided for residential development

· In terms of the decisions issued for residential development, those for urban areas fell by two fifths, from 1,484 in quarter 1 2010/11 to 887 for the first quarter of 2011/12. The decrease in planning decisions issued for residential development in rural areas was not as pronounced, falling 15% from 1,758 to 1,494.

6. Renewable energy applications

· This bulletin sees figures on renewable energy applications published for the first time. Renewable energy applications can include wind turbines, wind farms, solar panels, and hydroelectric schemes.

· Of the 62 wind turbines and wind farms which were approved for quarter 1 2011/12, over half were in Strabane and Omagh LGDs with 12 and 20 approvals respectively.

7. Performance against key Public Service Agreement (PSA) Targets

Please note that PSA and Business Plan targets for 2011/12 are currently under review. In order to provide a benchmark of performance reference is made below to the targets that were in place last year.

· The 2010/11 PSA processing target for Major planning applications (predominantly housing developments, commercial and retail development) was to decide 60% of major applications to decision or withdrawal in 23 weeks. In quarter 1 2011/12, 42% of major applications were processed in 23 weeks.

· The 2010/11 PSA processing target for Intermediate planning applications (predominantly single houses) was to decide 70% of intermediate applications to decision or withdrawal in 31 weeks. In quarter 1 2011/12, 68% of intermediate applications were processed in 31 weeks.

· The 2010/11 PSA processing target for Minor planning applications (predominantly alterations and extensions to houses) was to decide 80% of intermediate applications to decision or withdrawal in 18 weeks. In quarter 1 2011/12, 66% of minor applications were processed in 18 weeks.

8. Performance against Business Plan Targets

The 2010/11 Business Plan contained two validation targets. The first was to validate 85% of applications within six days. The second was to validate 95% of applications within 10 days. The 2010/11 Business Plan also contained two targets for the time taken to issue a decision after last Council consultation. The first was to issue 85% of decisions within two weeks. The second was to issue 95% of decisions within four weeks. Again in order to provide a benchmark of performance reference is made below to the targets that were in place last year.

· In the first quarter of 2011/12 90% of planning applications were validated within six days and 98% were validated within 10 days.

· In the first quarter of 2011/12, 80% of decisions were issued within two weeks of last Council consultation and 93% were issued within four weeks of last Council consultation.

1. This is the latest in a series of Quarterly Development Management Statistics Bulletin.

2. The information contained in this press release is based on provisional data. This will be superceded by the publication of the annual statistical bulletin in July 2012.

3. There are three PSA targets and four Business Plan targets covered in the report, covering Planning performance in relation to the processing of planning applications. These are currently under review and are therefore subject to change in 2011/12.

4. The records of all applications from 1 April 2011 to 30 June 2011 were transferred in August 2011 from a live database and inspected for consistency in coding before figures were finalised for publication.

5. The bulletin is available at http://www.planningni.gov.uk/common-eplanning-stats-publications.htm

Hard copies are available free of charge from:

Department of the Environment, Millennium House, 17 - 25 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7BN,

Telephone: (028) 9041 6700

E-mail: planning.service.hq@doeni.gov.uk

Website: http://www.planningni.gov.uk

6. For further information please contact:

Analytical Services Branch, Room 4.10, Clarence Court , 10 - 18 Adelaide Street, Belfast BT2 8GB, Tel (public enquiries): 028 9041 6777

E-mail:asb@doeni.gov.uk

Website: http://www.doeni.gov.uk/index/

7. For media enquiries please contact DOE Press Office 028 9054 0003 or out of office hours, contact the EIS Duty Press Officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.