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Northern Ireland planning reform ten years on: mission accomplished?

It’s not just April Fools Day, 1 April 2025 also marks the ten-year anniversary of the transfer of planning powers in Northern Ireland from central to local government – the most radical reform of the Northern Ireland planning system for 40 years. In a year where we celebrate 30 years of Turley in Belfast, Senior Director, Michael Gordon reflects on what has been achieved in the last decade since the transfer of planning powers and what still needs to be done.

Tied in with the Review of Public Administration, the planning reform saw 11 new super-councils taking on a wide range of planning powers in a redesigned system intended to be fast, fair and fit for the purpose of creating a better environment and a stronger economy.

A faster system?

When we geared up for change in 2015 we were promised quicker decisions on planning applications and greater pace with the preparation of Local Development Plans (LDPs). Has this been achieved? In short, no.

Planning applications

In 2014/15 the average processing time for major applications was 36 weeks and for local applications was 16 weeks. 12,864 applications were received and 11,646 applications were decided.

In 2023/24, the last full year’s data available, 10,025 applications were received, and 9,734 applications were decided. The average processing time for major applications was 46.5 weeks (against a target of 30) and for local applications was 20.8 weeks (against a target of 15). 

While a simple comparison of before and ten years after reform isn’t favourable, it is, however, positive that the 2024/25 Q3 data shows some improvement, with an average year to date processing time for majors of 39.7 weeks and 19.2 weeks for locals. As is to be expected with 11 autonomous planning authorities with varied caseloads, there is a wide variation in processing times, with some councils quicker than others. 

Of course, planning authorities can only process what is put in front of them. Applicants have been told in no uncertain terms that the quality of planning applications must improve but front loading by professionally represented planning applicants is well established. It remains to be seen whether the validation checklist will be the panacea for improved timelines.

Quality applications can get stuck in the system and time is often eaten up by delays in validation, issuing consultation requests, assessment/reporting after the last consultation is returned and dealing with late representations.

Where should the balance be struck between speed and outcome? Overall, approval rates remain high (95%), with planning authorities tending to negotiate changes post application, in line with applicants’ general preference for a slow yes, rather than a quick no.

Planning appeals

Whilst showing signs of improvement, as the large number of newly appointed Commissioners get deployed onto casework, in real terms the appeals system is also taking longer to determine fewer cases. In 2014/15, the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) decided 262 appeals in a median time of 24 weeks. In 2023/24, decisions were made on 213 appeals in a median time of 61 weeks.

Local Development Plans (LDPs)

The Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) indicated the potential for a 40-month pathway to adoption of LDPs under a new, faster, two-stage process.

It was ambitious to expect newly formed councils to deliver something in 40 months, at the first time of asking, that the Department of Environment (DoE) hadn’t achieved in 40 years. Not least because all councils were starting at the same time, with their parallel processes dependent upon the same regional statutory consultees and the PAC for independent examination (IE).

So far only six of the 11 councils have had IEs into the first part of their LDP, so there are 16 IEs still to do. Recognising the self-acknowledged challenging period faced by the PAC, and the consequences of exclusive reliance upon it for IEs and public local inquiries, the Minister has recently secured £3 million in funding from the Interim Public Sector Transformation Board to fund independent persons to undertake, hear, and report work that the PAC has been unable to progress.

Will all 11 councils have both parts of their LDP adopted by the 20th anniversary?

A fairer system?

Whilst there remains work to do to speed up the process of taking planning decisions and making new plans, the central objective of removing the democratic deficit in the planning system has been achieved.

Gone are the days of locally important decisions by unaccountable officials in central government. Whilst over 90% of decisions are made by officers under delegated powers, elected councillors now make the decisions on major planning applications, with applicants and objectors alike enjoying the white-knuckle ride of planning committees.

Applicants, agents and DfI Planning, in its oversight role, have a keen interest in the rate of overturns at planning committee – instances where the committee decides to go against officer recommendation. Latest figures (2021/22) indicate that 152 of 960 applications decided by planning committees were made against an officer’s recommendation (15.8%).

The rate of overturn varies widely between only 1% in Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon (one application) and an eye-catchingly high 48% in Newry Mourne & Down (58 applications), largely made up of single houses in the countryside. Is it time to review the scheme of delegation?

Major applications are also subject to a process of pre-application community consultation where intending developers front up with their plans and hear first-hand what people think. In one of several adjustments to keep planning going through the pandemic, public information events shifted to online platforms, a valuable practice which has since been retained by most applicants but is not yet set out in statute.

Local views are also built into plan-making as LDPs are the spatial expression of the council’s Community Plan. For those familiar with the pre-2015 process, the new legal test of soundness has reduced both the number of representations - those taking part - and the degree of change between draft and final plan to ‘spot the difference’, with the first of the new Local Plan Policy documents keenly awaited.

A system fit for purpose?

The planning system was subject to scrutiny by both the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and the Public Accounts Committee in 2022.

NIAO found that despite the importance of the planning system to Northern Ireland, it is not operating effectively, not always providing the certainty that those involved want, and in many aspects not delivering for the economy, communities or the environment. Likewise, the Public Accounts Committee was critical of the performance of the planning system, not seeing it working as it should.

DfI Planning responded with a Planning Improvement Programme, which we reflected upon in our own report, prepared for the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce. We made ten recommendations, including an overarching one on the need for a whole system review of the financial sustainability of the process. 

More positively, planning now enjoys a much more prominent position in the psyche of politicians and Government as a facilitator and enabler of the priorities set out in the Programme for Government.

Ten years on, key pathways to progress are focusing future reforms on where they will make the most meaningful impact, recognising the value of continuous improvement, creating a customer focused culture change and continued collaboration between all with an interest in the system.

Ultimately, while there is still plenty of work to do, the system would achieve its purpose of creating a better environment and a stronger economy if everyone involved did what they were supposed to do when they are supposed to do it. For more information please contact Michael Gordon.

1 April 2025