A Co Down councillor has slammed his planning department as the “worst in Northern Ireland”.
Newry, Mourne and Down District’s audit committee was shown a report this week identifying its planners in last place of all local authorities for processing times on local applications.
However, a “backlog problem” in the council’s system is said to be causing the “No1” public concern with environmental issues, a key stalling point on building homes in the rural district.
Rowallane DUP councillor Callum Bowsie said: “Our planning stats are appalling and quite frankly embarrassing. They are the worst in Northern Ireland and we are not just the worst by a little bit.
“The council with the most applications is Belfast and we often get told we are the second highest.
“But, Belfast is able to get through its applications in 19 weeks for local applications, we are over 45 weeks and that’s an increase from last year. The NI average is 19.6 weeks.
“It is appalling that we are going backwards when we think we are making some progress. Belfast seems to go through local applications at twice the speed.”
Local planning applications can include single homes or even a change of use of a building.
The report before the audit committee shows Newry, Mourne and Down average local planning processing times at 45.2 weeks (2024/25) with a huge increase to just over 60.2 weeks (2025/26)
The statutory standard target is less than 15 weeks.
The report states the latest data is open to change with the end of year validated data to be published by the Department for Infrastructure, which it now has done on its website.
Councillor Bowsie who is chairperson of the strategy, policy and resources committee told the audit committee the figure of “60.2 weeks, should now be 45.8”.
Downpatrick Sinn Fein councillor Oonagh Hanlon said: “The planning department backlog is a risk to the council.
“The backlog is the major problem, we are treading water here and we are not getting anywhere.
“It is us (councillors) at the coal face dealing with applicants, the emotional and economic impact it is having.
“It is definitely the No1 issue and we need to do better.”
Mournes SDLP councillor Laura Devlin added: “We are the ones receiving the calls from applicants and it doesn’t seem that the problem is getting any better.
“In the report it alludes to the significant delays with consultees which nearly feels like things going into a black hole at times with responses not back for months upon months.”
A council officer responded: “I have confirmed that the staffing resources are adequate.
“The issue we have is the backlog and we are determining a significant amount of applications, second only to Belfast.
“Belfast is an urban environment and it does not have the significant environmental designations and challenges that the rural council of Newry, Mourne and Down has, which needs to satisfy external consultees on.
“The more we determine the worse our stats get because you only get the stats when you make a decision… and that will continue until the backlog is cleared.
“We have a proposal we will be bringing forward next month about how we propose to address the backlog.”
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