Northern Ireland Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has welcomed confirmation that planning consultation response times are improving — a development expected to support smoother delivery of construction projects.

The Department for Infrastructure has reported that 77% of planning applications requiring statutory consultation were responded to within the 21-day target, or within an agreed extended period. This marks an increase from 74% in 2023/24 and represents the best performance since 2017/18.

Minister Kimmins said: "I welcome this improvement in statutory consultation response times. These figures represent an increase from 74% on 2023/24 and are the highest recorded figures since 2017/18.

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"This is just one area which has seen progress through the Planning Improvement Programme which is also reflected in the significant improvement in the average processing time for major applications in 2024/25, which saw the lowest processing times since the transfer of planning powers in 2015. This trend is continuing with major application processing times meeting the 30-week statutory target in the first quarter of 2025/26."

The Minister added that while delays still occur, work continues between her Department and local councils to streamline the process further: "Of course I know delays remain in the planning process and I appreciate this can be frustrating and that further progress needs to be made. My Department will continue to work closely with local councils within the two-tier planning system to continue to deliver improvements which make a tangible difference to all citizens in the North and I remain fully committed to working with them and key stakeholders to deliver these improvements."