Newry planning delays in focus at MP’s roundtable discussion

RSUA Director Ciarán Fox today attended a construction roundtable organised and convened by Chris Hazzard, Member of Parliament for South Down, to discuss how the underperformance of the planning system in the Newry, Mourne and Down council area can be addressed.

The challenge in NMD

When RSUA met with Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in July 2025, the planning service acknowledged that local planning application processing times were unsatisfactory and advised that improvements would take time to materialise.

Between July and September 2025, the Council’s average processing time stood at 43.4 weeks, approximately 126% longer than the Northern Ireland average of 19.2 weeks for the same period.

DfI most recently recorded the Council’s average processing time for local applications as 46.1 weeks between October and December 2025, approximately 133% longer compared with the regional average of 19.8 weeks.

RSUA comments

Among the recommendations RSUA raised at the forum were:

• Empower planners to act without overdue consultee responses by authorising them to determine applications once statutory consultees have exceeded a reasonable response period so that avoidable delays no longer stall the system.
•  Commission an independent external review of the planning service to diagnose structural failings and implement enforceable improvements.
• Establish regular formal engagement between planners and stakeholders by creating scheduled face‑to‑face meetings with agreed action plans and progress reporting to strengthen accountability and communication.
• Prioritise rapid processing of straightforward applications to free officer capacity for more complex cases and improve overall system throughput.

If you have any questions or comments about this meeting or would like to join the RSUA Newry, Mourne and Down Local Group, please contact Curtis Large, RSUA Policy and Public Affairs Officer, at curtis@rsua.org.uk