Planning

Planning Service:

News Highlight:

The Planning Committee Meeting scheduled for Wednesday 30^th November 2022 at 2pm has been cancelled due to implementation of the new regional Planning IT System and subsequent restrictions on the Planning Portal during this transition.  There will be a period of downtime to facilitate the transfer of data commencing Friday 18^th November 2022 and the new system will be operational from Monday 5^th December.  Full information regarding the implementation of the new regional Planning IT System is given below. The next Planning Committee Meeting will be held as a hybrid meeting on Wednesday 11^th January 2023.    

 

The Planning Service normal business has resumed and services are operating fully with some restrictions as outline below.  Staff are working from home and in the office as a hybrid arrangement and continue to provide a full range of functions to ensure service delivery. Officer site visits and Planning Committee Member site visits continue for all cases.  External meetings are considered as required and we also engage fully with customers through virtual meetings, written communication and phone calls.  New applications, revised drawings and any additional information can emailed to [email protected] or posted to:  Planning Department, Derry City & Strabane District Council, 98 Strand Road, Derry, BT48 7NN or left at the Reception of Strand Road Council Offices.

 

Planning Committee meetings continue to be held as hybrid meetings for Elected Members with Senior Officers in attendance.   Committee Meetings will be held in Council Chambers at Derry Road, Strabane and at the Guildhall in Derry, alternating monthly.   Arrangements will continue to be made to facilitate registered speakers to join the meeting remotely via Webex and meetings will be livestreamed so members of the public can view proceedings via the Council's YouTube Channel .  The next Planning Committee Meeting will be held as a hybrid meeting on Wednesday 11^th January 2023.   The scheduled list of applications for discussion at forthcoming Planning Committees will be published on https://www.derrystrabane.com/Services/Planning one week prior to each Committee Meeting.  Further information regarding the operation of ‘The Operation of Planning Committee Meetings’ and 'Addendum to the Operation of the Planning Committee Protocol . Virtual Committee Meetings' can also be viewed on our website: https://www.derrystrabane.com/Services/Planning.   If you wish to request Speaking Rights at any Planning Committee Meeting, please contact our office directly at: [email protected] or the main office at 📞028 71 253253 and ask to speak to a member of the Planning Service.

 

The Planning Enforcement Service continues to progress and deal with complaints in line with Council's Enforcement Strategy.

Local Development Plan (LDP) The Local Development Plan Team submitted the Derry City & Strabane District Local Development Plan (LDP 2032) – draft Plan Strategy and supporting documents to the Department for Infrastructure on 26th May 2022 as part of the Independent Examination process. All LDP Submission documents can be viewed here.  They are also available for inspection during normal office opening hours, by appointment only at the Council's two main offices in Derry and Strabane.

Following the Submission of the LDP draft Plan Strategy in May, the Department considered it, to check it is procedurally ‘sound’, that there are no obvious gaps in the evidence base and it is not fundamentally flawed in relation to its regional context. The Council received a formal letter from DfI Planning on 20th September 2022, stating that the Submission had successfully passed its initial checks, so it would be writing to the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) to ‘cause an Independent Examination’.

The Council has since made the Submission documents available to the PAC, who have appointed a Programme Officer and they are currently undertaking their initial assessment of the LDP dPS and other Submission documents. This is the next step towards adoption of the LDP Plan Strategy. The Council is currently waiting to hear from the PAC with any initial queries but at this stage, we anticipate that the Independent Examination is likely to take place in late winter/ early spring 2023.

New Planning Portal

Derry City and Strabane District Council is in the process of implementing a new IT system to replace the existing NI Planning Portal, that will be shared by the Department for Infrastructure and other local authorities in Northern Ireland, with the exception of Mid Ulster. In order to implement the new system the current one will be offline from 3pm on Friday 18 to Monday 21 November.

As part of the preparations for the introduction of the new system on 05 December, the current system will be closing down over the weekend of 18-20 November to facilitate data extraction. It will be available again on Monday 21 November but with limitations in place to read only access for most users. The public are advised to expect some delays to the system at this time.

The Councils and Department for Infrastructure will continue to accept new planning applications during the transition period but copies of the submitted forms and plans will not be made available online until the new Planning Portal is launched on 05 December. All applications will continue to be checked by staff online in preparation of being uploaded and will be advertised, neighbour notified and consultations issued once the new Portal is up and running.

The current Public Access website will continue to be available during the transition period from 21 November onwards so that citizens can view applications but it will no longer accept online comments or track applications. Customers are encouraged to submit their comments to Planning Officials via email to [email protected] or by post to Planning Service, Derry City and Strabane District Council, 98 Strand Road, Derry. BT48 7NN.

Public Access users are advised that their details will not be transferred, their account will close and the details deleted when the website is taken offline. Those who wish to use the tracking or comment features on the new Planning Portal or to submit an application online must create a new user account when the new system launches.

For more information visit - https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/new-planning-portal

Planning Portal Document