AQW 22943/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 22/09/2021
Answered On Date: 15/10/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities what discussions she has had with the Minster for Infrastructure, and what actions are being taken by her Department, to improve the length of time being taken by Council planning offices to process planning applications for new homes.

Answer:

I am leading on work to develop a Housing Supply Strategy, aimed at identifying and unlocking the major levers for increasing supply across all housing tenures. Given the cross cutting nature of this work, I have engaged with Ministerial Colleagues, including the Minister for Infrastructure on a number of occasions in the Strategy development process, including when seeking nominations for the Strategy Project Board and in advance of a Call for Evidence to inform the focus of the Strategy being issued.

The Call for Evidence recognised the important role the planning process has to play in delivery of new homes and included specific questions that sought evidence on issues around planning legislation, policies and processes. The analysis of information and evidence gathered has included bi-lateral engagement between my officials and planning officials from DfI.

The Department has engaged with DfI on how we might unlock and prioritise planning for sites for housing development in key areas of social housing need and address barriers to development from planning restrictions. The potential implications for the development of social housing due to infrastructural issues has been of concern, particularly given the increasing levels of housing stress and need.