Antrim and Newtownabbey continues to lead the way with Positive Planning

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Planning Team has once again ranked in the top three Councils in Northern Ireland on five of the six statutory performance indicators set down by Government. The figures were included in the Department for Infrastructure’s Annual Statistical Bulletin for 2020/21 which were released at the start of July. 

Welcoming the Council’s success, Councillor Sam Flanagan, Chairman of the Council’s Planning Committee said: 

“During what has been a most difficult year, owing to COVID-19, I am delighted that our staff have risen to the challenges faced and continued to perform excellently. The Council has maintained its position of having the lowest proportion of applications over a year old.  Overall, the statistics show that, as a result of the hard efforts of all the staff in the Planning Section and the decisions taken by the Committee itself, the Council continues to be one of the top performing Local Planning Authorities in Northern Ireland”.    

In congratulating the Council’s Planning staff Councillor Flanagan added

“Last month nearly 150 planning decisions were issued by the Council with a continued emphasis on the speedy processing of significant investment and job creation proposals.  One major application to highlight is the Belfast International Airport’s £15million investment in a major extension which was processed and approved in just five months. This excellent work by the Planning Section has already begun to make strong inroads in reducing the live caseload of applications that has arisen as a result of the impact of COVID 19. This work will help ensure that the Council’s overall strong performance in recent years is maintained in the long term and that through positive planning, the Council will continue to play a strong role in promoting economic recovery throughout the Borough”. 

Councillor Flanagan concluded:

“The Council’s aim is to ensure that Antrim and Newtownabbey has an efficient planning process that promotes positive development and assists ongoing recovery.  This is crucial in delivering on the Council’s number one strategic priority – growing the economy and meeting our needs without compromising the quality of our environment.  Our recent results show that we continue to lead the way in Northern Ireland and are committed to economic recovery delivering both for business and our residents.”