The most recent survey undertaken by the Department of the Environment (DoE) into the Northern Ireland (NI) Planning Service has revealed high levels of customer satisfaction.
The DoENI writes:
Environment Minister Mark H Durkan has welcomed a report that reveals the highest levels of satisfaction from users of the planning system since 2000.
The NI Planning Customer Satisfaction Survey 2012/13 report published today, details improvements in satisfaction with overall service from users of the planning system.
Much has been achieved but there is still much more to do. High levels of satisfaction were expressed with regard to handling queries, quality and clarity of advice, quality and timeliness of information received from DOE Planning and satisfaction with professionalism of planning staff.
Commenting on the report, Mark H Durkan said: ‘This survey is encouraging, reflecting the changes that my predecessor implemented, changes that I will continue to improve upon in DOE Planning. It is heartening to see that the end user has acknowledged that these reforms are working in their best interest.
‘What I and DOE are about is improving the level of service and professionalism we provide to our users. We will continue to strive to improve on these impressive results to help achieve my vision of creating a less complex, more effective and more user-focused system. All this can be achieved without compromising on environmental standards.’
The key findings from the report include:
- In total, 67% of respondents were satisfied, or very satisfied, with the overall service they received from Planning during 2012/13. This is an improvement in the 61% overall satisfaction rating recorded when the survey was last run in 2010/11.
- Approaching three quarters (73%) of respondents reported that they had obtained information from the Planning website, published guidance /information leaflets, divisional offices/staff etc before submitting an application. This compares with 69% of respondents in the 2010/11 survey.
- Three quarters (75%) of respondents reported that their planning application took eight months or less to process to a decision.
- Over four fifths (86%) of respondents rated the professionalism of planning staff as good or satisfactory.
- Approximately three quarters of respondents rated the quality and the clarity of advice as good or satisfactory (77% and 74% respectively).
- Over three quarters (77%) of respondents had used the Planning website. Of these, over four fifths (84%) rated it as good or satisfactory.
