New figures have revealed Mid Ulster District Council is among some of the best performing local authorities concerning planning applications.

Statistics from the Department of Environment show the council had the highest approval rate for applications at 96.5% from April to December 2015.

Overall, there were 3,050 planning applications received in Northern Ireland during October to December 2015, an increase of 4.7% from the previous quarter but a decrease of 7.4% during the same period last year,

Cllr Martin Kearney, Chair of the Planning Committee, said the statistics were "positive".

"You have to look at all these statistics in the context of the volume of work – Mid Ulster had the 3rd highest number of planning applications out of the 11 councils and almost twice as many as our neighbouring councils and yet we are the 4th fastest council to process local applications," he said.

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"You also have to consider the performance against the backdrop of creating an entirely new service with an entirely new team from scratch, just over a year ago.

"As we embark on our second year, we will continue to see the benefits of their hard work and efforts to deliver a customer-focussed service, with local needs at its core."

The statistical report is the second since the transfer of planning powers to councils in April 2015.

On the back log of applications issue, Cllr Kearney added: "We began in April 2015 with a backlog inherited from the Department of the Environment, including some long-running and complicated applications, so we are concentrating on clearing those applications as quickly as we can.

"The fact that in the period under review we decided more applications than we received, means we are making inroads into the backlog created by the transfer of planning to the council."

To view the planning statistics, visit here.

(LM/MH)