Business leaders in Northern Ireland have called on the Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson, to act immediately to address the blockage that the Planning Service is having on economic development.

The Institute of Directors said it had engaged with the Planning Service over the past six years, but remained disappointed with the "inadequate progress" in improving the organisation from within.

Business leaders blasted the service as "bureaucratic, unprofessional and the single biggest obstacle to economic progress".

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Joanne Stuart, Chairman of the IoD in Northern Ireland, said: "Even before the recession hit, companies were going out of business because planners would not make decisions. "They do not seem to care about the economic impact and the loss of benefit of these investments to the wider community," she added.

Business leaders accused the Planning Service of missing a substantial economic opportunity, by refusing permission for the Aurora development in Belfast's Great Victoria Street.

The Institute said it had met with and written to the Executive's Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit with detailed criticisms and suggestions about the Planning Service saying: "in short, there is no confidence in the planning system."

(PR/JM)