AQW 22176/17-22 Written question to the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to confirm how many weeks the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has taken to provide a statutory consultee response to planning applications for (i) 2019; (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2021 to date, broken down by council area.
Asked by Kellie Armstrong MLA on 10 September 2021
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 10 September 2021
- Answer due by
- 27 September 2021
- Answered
- 27 September 202117 days after tabling
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Most responses made by the Department to planning application consultations are a single collated response covering all relevant Departmental divisions rather than individual responses from each division. As such response rates are reported at a Departmental level.
The table below provides the average number of weeks the Agency has taken to provide a statutory consultee response to planning applications for the reporting periods: 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019; 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 broken down by Council area.
The response rate for 1 April 2021 to 31 August 2021 has also been provided.
| Council | 2018/19 Average Number of Weeks | 2019/20 Average Number of Weeks | 2020/21 Average Number of Weeks | 01/04/2021-31/08/2021 Average Number of Weeks |
| Causeway Coast & Glens | 2.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 1.6 |
| Mid & East Antrim | 3.6 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 2.4 |
| Antrim & Newtownabbey | 3.3 | 4.0 | 5.8 | 2.1 |
| Belfast | 2.2 | 2.9 | 5.4 | 2.1 |
| Lisburn & Castlereagh | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 |
| Ards & North Down | 2.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 1.7 |
| Newry, Mourne & Down | 3.6 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 2.0 |
| Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon | 3.3 | 3.3 | 4.6 | 1.9 |
| Mid Ulster | 4.3 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 2.3 |
| Fermanagh & Omagh | 4.5 | 5.8 | 7.2 | 1.9 |
| Derry & Strabane | 3.7 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 2.2 |