New council planning system 'not fit for purpose'

The planning portal was launched in December and is used most NI councils

Northern Ireland's new online system for planning applications is "unacceptably poor" and "not fit for purpose", a body representing architects has said.

The Royal Society of Ulster Architects (RSUA) said that in some respects the new planning portal was worse than the system it replaced.

It was launched in December and is used by ten of NI's 11 councils.

The RSUA said the system has been "plagued" by serious issues.

The Department for Infrastructure acknowledged there were problems which "all partners are working with the supplier to urgently resolve".

'Slow and unrepsonsive'

At the heart of the new system is the ability to submit planning applications online.

However, RSUA said there seems to be no way to update an application once it is on the system.

It added that such a feature was "essential when dealing with detailed drawings which often need to be amended".

Other complaints include, the map function not showing the red line boundary of planning applications and some addresses not appearing on the map.

Tracking applications was also described as "very slow and unresponsive".

The Royal Society of Ulster Architects said the system is "plagued" with issues

Ciaran Fox, Director of RSUA, said: "There are so many problems. It's as if a Beta version has been released as the final version. It has been described by our members who are using it day in, day out, as unacceptably poor, and not fit for purpose."

He said delays caused by the new system were "having a direct impact on architectural practices".

"In the short term it affects cash flow. In the medium term there is a real concern that it could act as a further brake on the local construction sector at a time when it is facing many other challenges."

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Planning is the responsibility of local councils and the Department for Infrastructure. They jointly funded the new portal.

A departmental spokesperson said like many large scale system implementations, with multiple organisations and stakeholders involved, there have been some initial problems.

"A number of the issues have already been resolved with remaining issues due to be addressed as part of a phased roll-out of software releases in the coming weeks."

Mid-Ulster Council does not use the new portal having decided to set up its own online system.