Irwin lobbies Poots on planning delays

Newry & Armagh DUP Assemblyman William Irwin MLA has lobbied DAERA Minister Edwin Poots on delays in planning consultation responses by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

The NIEA is a statutory consultee in planning applications and Mr Irwin said he is concerned by the delays experienced by applicants and local Council Planning Services throughout Northern Ireland.

Minister Poots responded positively to Mr Irwin’s calls for additional resources to be put to the NIEA in order to speed up the consultation response rate.

Mr Irwin stated: “I welcome Minister Poots’ response to me on the issue of NIEA consultation response delays and the problems this creates for applicants who have important projects in the planning stages and from a business perspective, are under pressure to move their particular business aspirations forward.

“I have been dealing with planning applications out in the agriculture industry, whereby the NIEA response deadline has been missed by many months and that really has a negative impact on a project, especially for instance if there is grant aid pending and a deadline must be met.

“Minister Poots states in his response that he is aware of this issue and is pleased to state that additional resources will be targeted at the planning team in the Natural Environment Division on a temporary basis to help clear the backlog of consultations.

“Mr Poots also refers to NIEA’s involvement with the Dept. for Infrastructure led Planning Forum and this body is looking at efficiency and effectiveness of the planning system in Northern Ireland – that is important work which must continue in earnest.”

Mr Irwin concluded: “It is vital that the necessary staff resource is quickly deployed and I know that existing staff in the service are doing their very best, however the workload is significant and any extra assistance that can be provided to build this capacity will be very welcomed.

“A speeding up of response times will positively impact on the number of applications processed and ultimately will positively benefit the local economy and in particular our agriculture industry.”