Number of NI people carrying out building work on homes falls

FEWER people in Northern Ireland were embarking on projects like building new homes or adding extensions during the second quarter of the year, according to a report.

The Department for Infrastructure said there had been a fall of over 300 in the number of residential planning applications received in the second quarter, compared to the previous three months.

Numbers were down 15% from 2,132 in the first quarter to 1,816.

However, the overall figure was still an increase of nearly 2% for the same period in 2018.

The figures were reported in the Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: Second Quarter 2019/20 Statistical Bulletin.

The report also said that there were 2,944 planning applications received during the second quarter, a decrease of more than 13% on the previous quarter and similar to the figure reported for the same period a year earlier.

There were 2,907 local applications and 37 major applications.

Major planning applications which were submitted in the second quarter included a plan by Galgorm Properties for 80 apartments on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast. It went on to win planning permission.

In the second quarter of 2019/20, 3,161 planning applications were decided upon. That number was up by 5% on the previous quarter and 3% on the same period a year earlier.

Decisions were issued on one regionally significant, 27 major and 3,133 local planning applications during the second quarter of 2019/20. In the first six months of 2019/20 it took on average just under 14 weeks to process local applications to decision or withdrawal. This was within the 15-week target and represented an improvement of 1.2 weeks from the same period a year earlier. Eight of the 11 councils were within the 15-week target after two quarters of 2019/20.