The Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: 2023/24 Annual Statistical Bulletin, has been published today (2024)

Planning statistics for the period April 2023 – March 2024 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 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.

KeyPoints

The key points from the Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: 2023/24 Annual Statistical Bulletin are:

• There were 10,025 planning applications received during 2023/24; an 11% decrease from the previous financial year. This comprised of 9,870 local, 154 major and one regionally significant application.
• A total of 9,734 planning applications were decided during 2023/24; a decrease of 10% from the previous financial year. Decisions were issued on 9,595 local and 139 major applications during 2023/24.
• The average processing time for local applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during 2023/24 was 20.8 weeks across all councils. This exceeds the 15 week target and represents an increase of 1.8 weeks from the same period a year earlier. Three of the 11 councils met the 15 week target in 2023/24.
• The average processing time for major applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during 2023/24 was 46.5 weeks across all councils. While exceeding the 30 week target, this represents a decrease of 11.3 weeks compared with the same period a year earlier. Three of the 11 councils met the 30 week target in 2023/24.
• Across councils 76.4% of enforcement cases were concluded within 39 weeks during 2023/24. This represents an increase from the rate recorded in 2022/23 (74.2%) and meets the statutory target of 70%. Individually, seven of the 11 councils met the target in both 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Notes to editors:

Background to Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: 2023/24 Annual Statistical Bulletin.

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 is the ninth annual statistical bulletin to report on activity and performance since the transfer of planning functions occurred. This report focuses primarily on performance in 2023/24 (1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024).
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. The three statutory targets, for major development applications, local development applications and enforcement as laid out in the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 are reported on within this report. These are processing of local development decisions within an average of 15 weeks; processing of major development decisions within an average of 30 weeks and bringing 70% of enforcements to conclusion within 39 weeks.
4. The final records of all applications from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 were transferred in May 2024 from live databases and inspected for consistency in coding before figures were prepared for publication.

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

Data for 2023/24 are now finalised and will not be subject to further scheduled revision.

5. Following an independent assessment by the UK Statistics Authority, the NI Planning Statistics report received 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.

Accredited Official Statistics

These statistics are accredited official statistics. Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently reviewed by Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and confirmed to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Additional Information

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.

7. For media enquiries please contact the DfI Press Office 028 9054 00