AQW 19553/17-22


Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 26/05/2021
Answered On Date: 02/06/2021
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether the encouragement of the reuse of existing buildings is being considered as part of the statutory review of the implementation of the Planning Act (NI) 2011.


Answer:
I am keen to encourage the reuse of existing buildings as opposed to new buildings wherever possible. Indeed, furthering sustainable development is at the heart of my Department’s Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS) and the planning system.
The SPPS makes provision for the re-use and adaptation (or ‘retrofitting’) of existing buildings and specifies that the planning system should help to mitigate and adapt to climate change by, among other things, “promoting sustainable patterns of development, including the sustainable re-use of historic buildings where appropriate”.
It also makes specific provision for the conversion and re-use of existing buildings in the countryside for residential and a variety of other non-residential uses; and, for certain farm diversification schemes where proposals involve the re-use or adaption of existing buildings.
In addition, regional policy supports the re-use of existing buildings in a number of scenarios, including listed buildings, where redevelopment would “secure the ongoing viability and upkeep of the building”, and through The Planning (Use Classes) Order (NI) 2015 which prescribes the circumstances where a change of use is not regarded as involving development, where the former use and new use are both within the same class specified in the Order.
Councils throughout Northern Ireland are currently bringing forward their new Local Development Plans which will include locally tailored planning policies on a range of topics, including for the reuse of existing buildings. In doing so they must take account of regional policy in the SPPS.
Although the reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings as opposed to new builds, falls outside the scope of the current review of the implementation of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, I can assure you it is an important part of my commitment to ensure sustainable development remains central to planning policy going forward.