The BBC has claimed that around 300 members of staff at the Northern Ireland Civil Service are to be redeployed within the Department of Environment (DOE).

Two hundred and sixty nine of these posts have been indentified within the Planning Service, the report stated today.

According to a spokesperson for the DOE, the decision to move Planning Service staff was due to an £8m gap in funding blamed on the economic downturn.

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The people in the posts are to be redeployed within the Northern Ireland Civil Service "wherever possible".

"Our current estimate is that in total a further 80 posts, outside the Planning Service, are surplus and will be redeployed," the spokesperson added.

The revenue generated by fees from planning applications goes directly into the Planning Service, but the number of applications has decreased dramatically since the downturn in the construction sector.

The move comes after the Public Accounts Committee and the Northern Ireland Audit Office both published damning reports on the Planning Service and its performance.

(NS/BMcC)