The Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: First Quarter 2026/27 Statistical Bulletin published
Date published:
The Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: First Quarter 2026/27 Statistical Bulletin, has been published today.
Provisional planning statistics for the first quarter of 2026/27 are now available. These data provide an overall view of planning activity. Alongside this there is a summary of council performance across the three statutory targets, for major development applications, local development applications and enforcement as laid out in the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015, along with other statistics of interest such as application approval rates.
The publication is available on the Department for Infrastructure website.
Key Points:
The key points from the Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: First Quarter 2026/27Statistical Bulletin are:
- There were 2,390 planning applications received during the first quarter of 2026/27; a decrease of one percent from the previous quarter and similar to the same period a year earlier. This comprised of 2,356 local, 33 major and one regionally significant planning application.
- In the first quarter of 2026/27, 2,295 planning applications were decided, an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous quarter and one percent on the same period a year earlier. Decisions were issued on 2,250 local and 45 major applications during the most recent quarter.
- The average processing time for local applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during the first three months of 2026/27 was 20.0 weeks across all councils. This exceeds the 15 week target and represents an increase from the average processing time reported for the same period a year earlier (19.8 weeks). Three of the 11 councils were within the 15 week target after the first three months of 2026/27.
- The average processing time for major applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during the first three months of 2026/27 was 26.1 weeks across all councils. This meets the 30 week target and represents a decrease of 3.9 weeks from the average processing time reported for the same period a year earlier (30.0 weeks).
- Across councils 76.2% of enforcement cases were concluded within 39 weeks during the first three months of 2026/27, meeting the 70% target. This represents an increase of 4 percent from the rate recorded for the same period in 2025/26 (72.2%). Individually, seven of the 11 councils were meeting the 70% target after the first three months of 2026/27.
Notes to editors:
- These statistics are accredited official statistics. Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently reviewed by Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and confirmed to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
- This is the latest in a regular series of statistical bulletins related to Development Management (Planning) functions. The Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 sets out the legislative framework for development management and provides that, from 1 April 2015, councils now largely have responsibility for this planning function. This statistical bulletin reports on activity and performance for the first quarter of 2026/27 (1 April to 30 June 2026).
- A new classification hierarchy for planning applications came into effect on 1 April 2014 in advance of the transfer of planning functions to local government from 1 April 2015. The development categories are – major and local development applications, processed primarily by councils, and regionally significant development applications, processed within the Department for Infrastructure. Note that the ‘major development’ category is based on a completely different definition to the previous ‘major’ category so figures relating to this category should not be compared with those from earlier bulletins (i.e. pre-2014/15).
- The three statutory targets, for major development applications, local development applications and enforcement as laid out in the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 are reported on within this report. These are processing of local development decisions within an average of 15 weeks; processing of major development decisions within an average of 30 weeks and bringing 70% of enforcements to conclusion within 39 weeks.
- The final records of all applications from 1 April to 30 June 2026 were transferred in August 2026 from live databases and inspected for consistency in coding before figures were prepared for publication. These figures are regarded as ‘provisional’ and will be subject to further scheduled revisions as further updates are made to records in the live database environments. Finalised annual figures for 2026/27 will be released in July 2027.
- Quarterly data are provided in more detail in the accompanying data tables together with comparable data from the previous financial year.
- Following an independent assessment by the UK Statistics Authority, the NI Planning Statistics report received accreditation in December 2020, demonstrating that it meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.
- Electronic copies of the bulletin, associated data tables and summary infographic are available free of charge from the Department for Infrastructure website.
- For more information relating to this publication, including additional analysis, breakdowns of data, or alternative formats please contact:
Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch, First Floor, James House, Cromac Avenue, Belfast, BT7 2JB
Telephone: (028) 9034 6270 E-mail: asrb@nisra.gov.uk
Website: https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/dfi-statistics-and-research.
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