The Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: Second Quarter 2022/23 Statistical Bulletin, has been published today

Provisional planning statistics for the second quarter of 2022/23 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 cases 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: Second Quarter 2022/23 Statistical Bulletin are:

• There were 2,663 planning applications received during the second quarter of 2022/23; a decrease of nearly thirteen percent on the previous quarter and down by almost twenty percent on the same period a year earlier. This comprised of 2,627 local and 36 major applications.
• In the second quarter of 2022/23, 2,831 planning applications were decided upon; down by over ten percent from the previous quarter and down by more than thirteen percent from the same period a year earlier. Decisions were issued on 2,792 local and 39 major applications during the most recent quarter.
• The average processing time for local applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during the first six months of 2022/23 was 17.0 weeks across all councils. This exceeds the 15 week target and represents an increase of 1.0 week from the same period a year earlier. Four of the 11 councils were within the 15 week target after the first six months of 2022/23.
• The average processing time for major applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during the first six months of 2022/23 was 50.0 weeks across all councils. This represents a decrease of 6.4 weeks compared with the same period a year earlier but is still considerably higher than the 30 week target.
• Across councils 73.4% of enforcement cases were concluded within 39 weeks during the first six months of 2022/23. This meets the statutory target of 70% and represents an increase from the rate reported for the same period in 2021/22 (72.3%). Seven of the 11 councils were within target after the first six months of 2022/23.
• Planning activity and processing performance during 2020/21 and 2021/22 were impacted by the restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, during January and February of 2022 the Northern Ireland Planning Portal was inaccessible for a period of time. These factors should be borne in mind and caution taken when interpreting figures and when making comparisons with other time periods.

Notes to editors: 

1. 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 second quarter of 2022/23 (1 July 2022 – 30 September 2022). 
2. 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).
3. There are three legislative performance targets covered in the report related to the processing of local development decisions within an average of 15 weeks; major development decisions within an average of 30 weeks; and processing 70% of enforcement cases to target conclusion within 39 weeks.
4. The final records of all applications from 1 April 2022 – 30 September 2022 were transferred in October 2022 from a live database 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 environment. Finalised annual figures for 2022/23 will be released in July 2023.

Quarterly data are provided in more detailed accompanying data tables together with comparable data from the previous financial year, where possible. 

5. Following an independent assessment by the UK Statistics Authority, the NI Planning Statistics report received National Statistics accreditation in December 2020, demonstrating that it meets the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.
6. Electronic copies of the bulletin, associated data tables and summary infographic are available free of charge from the Department for Infrastructure website.
7. Official Statistics -This is a National Statistics publication and therefore follows the Code of Practice for Statistics.
8. For more information relating to this publication, including additional analysis, breakdowns of data, or alternative formats please contact:

• Telephone:  (028) 9054 0390(Text relay prefix 18001)
• E-mail: asrb@nisra.gov.uk.
• Website: www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/topics/dfi-statistics-and-research.
• ASRB advise customers to make contact through email or by telephone at this time.

9. All media queries should be directed to the Department for Infrastructure Press Office at: press.office@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk.
10. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

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