To ask the Minister of the Environment to detail any plans or proposals his Department has in conjunction with local councils to reduce the time it takes to approve planning applications.

In order to monitor performance of councils with regard to their planning functions, three statutory planning indicators for councils were introduced on 1 April 2015. These cover the processing of local and major applications and enforcement cases. The first quarterly planning statistics bulletin, which was published in November 2015, highlighted performance of councils against the three statutory planning indicators for the first three months of the new two-tier planning system (April – June 2015).

While neither the major nor local indicators were met, these results have to be seen in context of the new two-tier system bedding-in. The creation of the councils and the transfer of planning functions represented a major challenge to both central and local government. Not only were the new 11 councils being established, but also a significantly reformed planning system was being introduced, with new processes for development management, local development plans, enforcement and appeals. In addition, many of the applications processed during this period were applications received by the Department during the months leading up to the transfer to councils, and these would undoubtedly have had an adverse impact upon processing times. It will still take some time for these legacy applications to be processed through the system. While noting that some elements of performance slipped, I was pleased to note that other elements, such as the processing of enforcement cases and the determining of applications over 1 year old, had improved.

There are no plans to change the statutory indicators and standards for 2016/17 as the system is still bedding-in. I am confident that the immense amount of work undertaken by the councils in integrating their new planning functions will start to bear fruit in the coming months.

I believe there is a collective responsibility between local and central government to ensure there is an effective planning system. My Department is working with councils, through various engagement channels such as the Ministerial Planning Group (chaired by me) and the Strategic Planning Group (chaired by the Chief Planner), to drive forward continuous improvement and best practice.

My Department is also currently taking forward work with councils on the introduction of a new planning performance framework in order to broaden the range of planning indicators (beyond the three statutory indicators).