With a new rural planning policy, thousands of backlogged development applications, and severe job cuts, Northern Ireland's planning industry could be facing a grim future ahead.
Though Northern Ireland's blanket ban on rural development has been amended to allow farmers and developers more flexibility, this has also created pressure on the Planning Service to get it all done.
Over 2,500 planning applications are waiting to be reviewed by an increasingly shorthanded staff. The Department of the Environment is set to redeploy 300 planning employees.
Brian Sore, RTPI Northern Ireland policy officer, said that "the recent announcement...that almost one third of the Planning Service is to be redeployed, or made redundant, does not look in any way rational when there is already a backlog of planning applications, to which 2,500 previously refused applications will have to be added for review."
Read the full story: Minister unveils NI rural planning policy
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