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Planning - General Information

What is the Council's Planning Service responsible for?

  • Receiving and making decisions on the majority of planning applications

  • Enforcing breaches of planning permission

  • Making tree preservation orders (TPOs)

  • Producing a local development plan which will outline how land in Mid Ulster should be used and developed in the future

How does the Council make planning decisions?

The Council makes planning decisions through its Planning Committee. The Planning Committee will make decisions about:

  • All major applications

  • All approvals which have received objections

  • All refusals

The Council will delegate approval decisions to its planning manager for local applications which are not controversial and are in line with planning policy.

Department for Infrastructure

The Department for Infrastructure is responsible for oversight and performance management, planning legislation, regional planning policy, determination of regionally significant developments and 'called-in' planning applications.

If a regionally significant application in the Mid Ulster area is submitted to the Department, it will be available to view on the regional planing portal. Similarly, if a Mid Ulster planning application is 'called in' to be determined by the Department, the Mid Ulster Public Access will only be updated once we have been made aware of the decision.   

Find out if you need planning permission

You may need to make a planning application if you want to:

  • Build something new

  • Make a change to a building such as an extension or a change to its appearance

  • Change the use of all or part of your building

Different rules apply to Listed Buildings, as well as advertisements and signs. Additional controls also apply within Conservation Areas.
 
Before applying for planning permission it is important to decide whether or not planning permission is actually required. With all building work, the owner of the property (or land) in question is ultimately responsible for complying with the relevant planning rules and legislation.

You can make certain minor changes to your home without planning permission. This is referred to as 'permitted development rights'. The works however, must meet certain conditions. For example, there are dimension restrictions when building an extension within the curtilage of your property.

Further information

Should you require further advice on the need for planning permission, please contact us at planning@midulstercouncil.org.

If you require formal confirmation that your proposed or existing works are permitted development you must apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness. 

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