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04/07/2013
Renewable Energy Planning Decisions Increase 90%
Renewable energy planning applications decisions increased by 90% in Northern Ireland in 2012, with almost nine in 10 renewable energy applications being approved.
The news is part of the findings in a new report, indicating improvements have been made in performance across all of the main categories of planning application over the last year.
The average processing time for Major, Intermediate and Minor categories of planning application has reduced by four, two and three weeks respectively over the last year.
72% of all Large Scale Investment Applications were processed within six months.
Enforcement cases opened have increased by 8%, with cases closed increasing by 14%.
The overall approval rate for decisions has remained the same as last year at 93%.
Minister Attwood said: "It is encouraging to note that there has been an increase of 90% in renewable energy application decisions. This is good news for developing our green economy, which is one of my key objectives. Renewable electricity and technology is one of our biggest economic opportunities.
"Over the last two years there has been a big effort made to improve planning after I set challenging targets in order to speed up the planning process. I welcome the statistics that proves that improvements have been made. Despite the claims of a few, planning has turned corners. There are yet more.
"There have been some obvious examples of quick turnaround times of major decisions, for example Windsor Park, Narrow Water Bridge, University of Ulster at York Street and the Joint Public Services College.
"These figures confirm that the most radical reform of planning in a generation is working."
(IT/CD)
The news is part of the findings in a new report, indicating improvements have been made in performance across all of the main categories of planning application over the last year.
The average processing time for Major, Intermediate and Minor categories of planning application has reduced by four, two and three weeks respectively over the last year.
72% of all Large Scale Investment Applications were processed within six months.
Enforcement cases opened have increased by 8%, with cases closed increasing by 14%.
The overall approval rate for decisions has remained the same as last year at 93%.
Minister Attwood said: "It is encouraging to note that there has been an increase of 90% in renewable energy application decisions. This is good news for developing our green economy, which is one of my key objectives. Renewable electricity and technology is one of our biggest economic opportunities.
"Over the last two years there has been a big effort made to improve planning after I set challenging targets in order to speed up the planning process. I welcome the statistics that proves that improvements have been made. Despite the claims of a few, planning has turned corners. There are yet more.
"There have been some obvious examples of quick turnaround times of major decisions, for example Windsor Park, Narrow Water Bridge, University of Ulster at York Street and the Joint Public Services College.
"These figures confirm that the most radical reform of planning in a generation is working."
(IT/CD)
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