The Stormont Environment Minister Edwin Poots has published consultation proposals for making planning fees simpler and fairer.

The proposed changes are designed to correct the current imbalance in the fees structure which sees smaller development proposals attract disproportionately higher planning fees compared with much larger, more complex applications which involve significantly more resources to handle.

The proposals include higher maximum fees for certain categories of application, bringing them more into line with England and Wales.

The Minister said: "Planning permission is essential to the development process and a properly resourced planning system is central to delivering jobs and profits for Northern Ireland.

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"The proposals I am launching today will end the current situation whereby the costs of processing planning applications for the very largest and most complex developments are subsidised by fees from smaller developments and by the tax payer.

"They will also benefit applicants by making the fee structure simpler and more transparent.

"I intend to make the system fairer by relating the fee charged to the scale and complexity of the development proposal. This means applications for small scale developments being charged at a lower rate than those for larger developments. Indeed, I intend to reduce the fees for the vast majority of applications for single dwellings."

He continued: "At the same time, I want to make sure that fees charged for very large and complex proposals realistically reflect the time and work involved in processing these applications. I therefore intend to raise the maximum fees for large industrial, commercial, housing and other developments to a more realistic level."

The Minister added: "Of course, the planning fee will remain a very small element of the overall investment in these types of project. My proposals will help ensure that the planning system is properly resourced and fit to support the development opportunities needed to trigger economic recovery."

The proposals also include removal of concessionary fees for certain public sector developments.

(GK/BMcC)