New planning portal launched for Northern Ireland

This is the largest joint IT project between central and local government to date in Northern Ireland and will see benefits for all users as the planning process is aligned with this digital age.

Key benefits of the new system will include the ability to submit planning applications and comments online as well as requests for Regional Property Certificates, ability to view and track live applications online, better user experience from an intuitive modern interface, making it easier for users to engage with the planning process and streamlining of internal processes to allow more efficient planning processing.

To facilitate the switchover to the new portal, the current system will stop today (Friday) to allow all current data to be extracted.

Thereafter, there will remain a period of read only access until the new portal goes live in December 2022. Arrangements have been put in place to try to deal with business as usual until the new portal is fully functioning in December 2022.

New applications can be submitted during this this period and they will be checked offline and uploaded to the new system in December. In addition online comments or tracking applications will not be possible during the transition period.

Instead, customers can submit their comments to Antrim and Newtownabbey Council’s Planning Department via [email protected] or by post.