Sixty planning service staff redeployed in North

Sixty planners are to move to Land and Property Services in the North, it was revealed today.

The technical officers will work on a project for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development from September. It is part of a two-year effort to improve the system for administering payments such as the single farm subsidy.

The Department of Environment earlier said the decision to move staff was due to an £8m (€9.75m) gap in funding for the Planning Service because of a fall in applications during the economic downturn.

The number of planning applications has fallen by 45% from 2004-05 when 36,593 were made.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots said: “This is a particularly difficult time for the Planning Service but we are making every effort to ensure that staff awaiting redeployment are helped as quickly as possible.

“The news of these jobs in the Land and Property Services is very welcome and a sign of our ongoing commitment to redeploy the affected staff in the Planning Service.

“The department is putting all its efforts into securing successful schemes to transfer or loan staff to other areas in order to keep these key skills within the wider Northern Ireland Civil Service – this remains our primary focus.”

Unions protested earlier this year after it emerged posts were to be shifted.

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson welcomed the resolution.

“This is a good example of departments working corporately to ensure surplus staff across the Northern Ireland civil service are found alternative positions suited to their skills as swiftly as possible,” he said.

The staff will be based in Belfast, Downpatrick and Omagh.

Planning Service chief executive Cynthia Smith said: “It is particularly encouraging to see skilled staff moving to related posts.

“These posts provide an opportunity for continued professional development and for those who are members of the Royal Town Planning Institute to work towards licentiateship and retain their accreditation.”