We want to help our residents and businesses get a timely planning decision that benefits Mid Ulster through a smooth process. To help us do that, we want to make sure planning applications are supported by the right information from the very start of the process.
To do this, we are consulting on a Draft Planning Application Validation Checklist (link to checklist) that has been developed to help applicants provide all relevant information that will help us assess the application.
The proposed checklist sets out the information that you will need to submit with your application for it to be valid and then processed by our Planning team. The information is made up of two parts:
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Basic Information: This information is set regionally and applies to all eleven Council areas. Without this information your application will not be valid and cannot be processed.
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Additional information: The Planning (General Development Procedure) (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2024 empowers the Council to publish a validation checklist that expands on the level of basic information required with planning applications on submission. The legislation enables a council to specify additional information requirements for applications for full planning permission, outline planning permission and approval of reserved matters.
The Validation Checklist must be reviewed and re-published at no more than three year intervals.
Where an application is submitted not in compliance with the Validation Checklist, we will normally request the additional information from the applicant on an informal basis.
However, we may ultimately issue a formal 'notice' of non-compliance with the Validation Checklist. The applicant will have the ability to lodge an appeal to the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) within 14 days from the date of the notice.
The PAC will then preside over the appeal and determine whether the additional information in question is necessary. Where the appeal is allowed, the applicant may resubmit the application to the council without the originally requested information.
Responding to us
We welcome comments on the draft checklist by Friday 27 March at 12 noon.
You can make your response in a number of ways:
By Email
Comments can be emailed to planning@midulstercouncil.org.
By post or In person
Correspondence should be marked: ‘Response to Draft Planning Application Validation Checklist Consultation’ and sent or delivered to:
Planning
Mid Ulster District Council
Magherafelt Offices
Ballyronan Road
Magherafelt
BT45 6EN
Further Information
The Department for Infrastructure has published a best practice guidance on the publication and implementation of Validation Checklists, Development Management Practice Note 08.
What happens next?
The outcome of the consultation and proposed final validation checklist will be reported to the Planning Committee for feedback, prior to publishing the agreed checklist on our website.