To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the assessments of local council’s performance or decision-making that her Department has ever conducted as per Part 10 of the 2011 Planning Act.

Part 10 of the Planning (NI) Act 2011 enables the Department to conduct an assessment of a Council’s performance or decision making, including an assessment of how a council deals with applications for planning permission and the basis on which determinations have been made.

Since the transfer of the Planning function to Councils in 2015 my Department has not carried out any assessments under Part 10 of the 2011 Act. However, Officials are as part of the Department’s monitoring and oversight role currently considering how best to review specific aspects of the planning system, including the potential use of this part of the Act.