Comment
COVID-19: Northern Ireland planning update #3
Since our last update we have been flexing to the new normal of digital pre-application engagement, virtual planning committees and all things online and remote.
Our last update is available here.
As lockdown measures continue to ease, we have seen the return of estate agency work with viewings and sales recommencing, supporting the ramp up in construction activity. The high street has reopened, adapting to customer needs.
We are thinking about how the planning system in Northern Ireland can support economic recovery. On Tuesday 30 June 2020 we hosted a webinar exploring Government, local authority and industry perspectives on how the system can help. We were joined by Angus Kerr, Chief Planner and Director of Regional Planning, Department for Infrastructure; Aidan Thatcher, Director of Planning and Building Control, Belfast City Council; and Simon Hamilton, Chief Executive, Belfast Chamber. The event underscored the importance of planning for recovery, explored what we have learned from adaptions to the system, included discussions on the fundamentals of the city, the role of the green economy and the importance of place shaping in building back better.
The webinar recording is available here.
Pre-application community consultation
Since the introduction of the amended regulations on 1 May 2020 we have been putting into practice on-line digital and offline remote pre-application community consultation.
We have successfully hosted a number of online community consultation events via webinars including proposals for the redevelopment of the Park Avenue Hotel which is a proposed mixed tenure residential development for the site, and Translink’s proposals for redevelopment of its Yorkgate Rail Station.
We look forward to progressing more proposals in this format over the coming weeks and months.
Determinations and planning committees
As our last update outlined, some of the 11 councils had already adapted their own standing orders and schemes of delegation to allow a nominated chief officer to make decisions on planning applications that would ordinarily be taken by a planning committee.
The effect of new regulations from Department for Communities has allowed virtual committees to operate across all councils and council meetings, including committee or sub-committee meetings, executive meetings and joint committees of two or more councils.
Most planning committees have since taken place virtually through a variety of digital platforms and have been streamed live for the public to view. Some committees met physically, with elected members, applicants and members of the public participating digitally. Others have expressed a desire to hold socially distanced meetings going forward, but the live streaming of committees could be something that continues in the future.
Derry City and Strabane Planning Committee has acknowledged the backlog created by lockdown and will be seeking to address that by holding additional meetings through July and August. Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, having held two planning committees in June, is likely to set aside the normal July recess this year to address the backlog. Over the past few months Belfast City Council has taken decisions via their Chief Executive under delegated powers. Elected representatives are working towards a resumption of physical meetings in August.
Our current understanding of the position with planning committees is:
Planning application submissions
Belfast City Council has requested that new applications are submitted electronically and has published guidance to inform the process.
The majority of other councils remain in a position where hard copy application submissions are required.
Planning staff and furlough
Some councils have furloughed planning staff and this will likely have a short term impact on the processing of planning applications and provision of services. It is expected that a number of councils may seek modifications to their approved Local Development Plan (LDP) timetable in light of COVID-19 and the implications arising from availability of resource. Derry City & Strabane, Lisburn & Castlereagh and Mid Ulster Council have already taken steps to postpone submission of representations and counter representations to their draft Plan Strategy.
Planning Appeals Commission (PAC)
The Commission reopened their offices on 11 May 2020 with reduced administrative capacity. As of 6 July 2020 they have increased their office operational hours from 9.00am to 4.30pm. At the start of June an engagement event was undertaken by the PAC with industry representatives and a select number of local councils to explore alternatives to hearings in person. The Commission then held their first remote hearing on 30 June 2020 facilitated via the Sightlink platform, and confirmed that the majority of their ’hear and decide’ cases could be progressed via remote hearings where there are a small number of parties and issues. The Commission outlines that they are presently seeking confirmation from appellants who requested a hearing if they are willing to progress via remote procedures.
For more information please contact our Belfast or City of Derry North~West offices.
8 July 2020
