To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (i) how many planning applications are awaiting assessment by NIEA as a statutory consultee; (ii) how many applications did NIEA respond to in (a) February 2023; and (b) February 2024; and (iii) how many officers are resource allocated for responding on behalf of NIEA as a statutory consultee.

When consulted on a planning application the Department provides a single collated response covering all relevant Departmental divisions, as such the number of planning consultation responses are recorded at a Departmental level which covers 7 teams within NIEA & Marine & Fisheries Division (MFD).

(i) Week commencing 22 April 2024, there were 280 statutory planning consultations and 97 non-statutory consultations awaiting assessment with the Department.

(ii) NIEA & MFD responded to 448 planning consultations in February 2023; and 415 planning consultations in February 2024.

(iii) There are 47.4 full time equivalent officers working on planning consultations within NIEA & MFD.