Belfast planning system slammed with applications for major developments taking double the statutory time

Belfast councillors have condemned the City Hall planning application process after an internal audit showed major planning applications in Belfast taking on average twice the amount of time allowed by statutory regulations.

At the most recent meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, where elected representatives were asked to note an audit and risk panel annual report, councillors from Sinn Féin and the SDLP heavily criticised the length of time for applications to be processed, particularly major applications such as social housing developments.

At the meeting Chief Executive John Walsh acknowledged the problem and said he was "happy" to facilitate a request for a report examining the process.

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Sinn Féin Councillor Ronan McLaughlin said: “You will see in the report that the statutory obligations the council are under when it comes to planning are not being met.

“Major applications are supposed to be in and out in 30 weeks. Ours is 59.6 weeks - we are breaching that target by double. When it comes to normal planning applications the target is 15 weeks, and we are at 20 weeks.

“Other councils are meeting that target, so this cannot solely be blamed on external statutory consultees, but I understand they are an issue, and we need to tackle that. But some of this is from our own internal consultees within the council.

“What I would like is a report in the (next) committee detailing the issues, (explaining) why we are double the target when it comes to major applications, and 30 percent over normal applications, when other councils are able to do it in the timeframe.”

He said: “We need to understand the reasons as to why we are breaching those targets, and if we need to make some investment or we need to make changes, then we need to do that.

“It is not an attractive proposal if you are wanting to transform part of the city centre, and you are told, by the way, it is going to take 60 weeks for you to get an application through. It is ridiculous. We need to get our ducks in a row.”

Section 76 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 allows council planning departments to enter into a legally binding agreement with a landowner as part of the grant of planning permission for a development. They are used when it is considered that a development will have a significant impact on the local area which cannot be facilitated by a condition in the planning permission.

Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said: “This committee has already agreed that we have a monthly update, and the Planning Committee, on Section 76 agreements in particular. One application was 16 months before the green cert was issued - this was for social homes.

“We have massive housing stress in this city, ten thousand people who need to move into a social home tomorrow, and yet when a planning application is approved it takes 16 months to get a green certificate before they can actually lay a brick.

“From a developers point of view, they are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in interest on the loans they have borrowed to build these assets. That is not attractive for anyone for investment - and it's certainly not attractive for anyone who is sleeping on a sofa, or in the street, or in a hostel. It is just not acceptable.”

He said SInn Féin would call for a special council “every month until we get the answers everyone needs.”

Council Chief Executive John Walsh said: “I get it. We need a planning system here that works. We need to be able to say Belfast is a good place to do business in. Developers and others can be very fickle in terms of where they make their investments.

“You know what? The planning system created by the legislation here was not fit for purpose, and didn’t take account of the resources, when (it was said) planning transfers were cost neutral. I can assure that what it would require to resource the existing system to make it more efficient, it definitely wasn't cost neutral at the point of transfer.”

He said: “I am happy for a report to come in, I think we need this exposure. But it is not that, as an organisation at an office level, we are not giving consideration to how we make this better. We are.”

SDLP Councillor Carl Whyte said: “I think there is an issue with Section 76 time delays. There is a resourcing question. There is also the number of Section 76 agreement that planning officers feel are appropriate, when if you actually look into them, may have been easier done with conditions

“Statutory consultees are a problem in the planning application. But some responsible for the delays are internal. I’ve had egg on my face at events where I have blamed statutory consultees, and it has been held up to me that one of our own departments is actually one of the worst.

“That is something we could fix very quickly. But there is no doubt this is a huge, huge problem now, and seems to be snowballing.”

Council Chief Executive John Walsh said: “That said, I have received some complimentary remarks recently in relation to the speed with which major applications have been dealt with, particularly where they presented employment opportunities. There will be a continued focus in terms of priority on those.”

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