Written question asked by Eddie McGrady (Social Democratic & Labour Party) on Monday, 26 February 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 28 February 2007. It was answered by David Cairns (Labour) on Monday, 5 March 2007 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Planning Permission: Craigavon

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent estimate he has made of the time taken to process planning applications in the Craigavon planning office.

Answer: I am aware of the significant workload pressures in all six divisional planning offices, especially Craigavon, which have resulted in increased processing times for planning applications. This has been exacerbated by a recent and unprecedented loss of experienced planning staff. The situation is assessed on an on-going basis and various modernisation and reform measures, which continue to be implemented, are expected to help performance over the next year. In addition, an extensive programme of recruitment/promotion has just been completed to allow staff vacancies to be filled and this should also lead to an improvement in processing times.

Secondary information