{"id":26612,"date":"2020-06-12T17:40:20","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T16:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=26612"},"modified":"2020-06-12T17:40:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T16:40:20","slug":"ihbcs-covid-19-signpost-95-ni-plannings-pandemic-response-lagging-badly-behind-rest-of-the-uk-says-construction-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=26612","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s COVID-19 signpost 95: NI planning\u2019s pandemic response \u2018lagging badly\u2019 behind rest of the UK, says construction industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-25710\" src=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/planning_open_gov_lic_3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/>Northern Ireland\u2019s (NI) planning system is \u2018lagging badly\u2019 behind the rest of the UK in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to introduce remote hearings, construction industry groups have said.<\/h3>\n<h6><em>image: for illustration purposes only &#8211; Open Government Licence v3.0<\/em><\/h6>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em>Irish Legal News<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n<p>In a joint letter to the\u00a0Planning Appeals Commission\u00a0(PAC), nine industry groups expressed \u201cgrave concern\u201d that virtual hearings had not been introduced more than two months after the suspension of in-person hearings.<\/p>\n<p>The signatories are the\u00a0Association for Consultancy and Engineering, the\u00a0Construction Employers Federation,\u00a0Construction Industry Council NI, the\u00a0Federation of Master Builders, the\u00a0Institute of Civil Engineers, the\u00a0Mineral Products Association NI, the\u00a0Royal Society of Ulster Architects, the\u00a0Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors\u00a0and the\u00a0Specialist Engineering Contractors\u2019 Group.<\/p>\n<p>The letter contrasted the situation in Northern Ireland with England and Wales, where the\u00a0Planning Inspectorate\u00a0has \u201cfully embraced virtual hearings\u201d, and Scotland, which is following suit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Northern Ireland economy can only suffer even more from that state of affairs than it has already suffered, with jobs and businesses in increasing jeopardy,\u201d the letter warns.<\/p>\n<p>It concludes: \u201cWe urge you to do everything possible to secure the introduction of virtual hearings without further delay, and certainly this side of the summer. It would be simply unacceptable for the Commission not to respond to the current crisis as the Inspectorate has. Northern Ireland deserves better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishlegal.com\/article\/planning-system-lagging-badly-behind-rest-of-the-uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Ireland\u2019s (NI) planning system is \u2018lagging badly\u2019 behind the rest of the UK in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to introduce remote hearings, construction industry groups have said. image: for illustration purposes only &#8211; Open Government &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=26612\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26613,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26612\/revisions\/26613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}