Performance Assessment: Year end update on implementation of 2022-2023

Published on 29 September 2023

Contents

• Overview
• Discharging the general duty to secure continuous improvement in 2022-2023
• Progression, achievement and outcomes from our 2022-2023 improvement objectives
• Improvement objective 1: Continue to adapt and improve our services
• Improvement activity 1: Ensure our environmental health and city protection services are fit for purpose
• Improvement activity 2: Continue to implement our customer focus programme
• Improvement activity 3: Continue to develop new procedures and transition arrangements for port health
• Improvement objective 2: Support our Communities
• Improvement activity 4: Implementation of the £10m neighbourhood regeneration fund for capital projects
• Improvement activity 5: Develop enhanced approaches to civic engagement and the involvement of the VCSE sector
• Improvement activity 6: Improve our parks and playgrounds and encourage participation in sport and physical activity
• Improvement objective 3: Support our Economy
• Improvement activity 7: Deliver employment academies, local business start-up programmes and support for social enterprises and co-operatives
• Improvement objective 4: Support our Environment
• Improvement activity 8: Develop Council’s strategic approach to climate change and facilitate partnership working to support delivery of the Belfast Climate Adaption Plan
• Improvement activity 9: Reassess and improve our approach to waste and recycling
• Improvement activity 10: Protecting our environment and local biodiversity
• Improvement objective 5: Protect the environment and improve sustainability
• Improvement activity 11: Initiate a 2-year pilot City Centre Capital Grant Scheme (Vacant to Vibrant)
• Improvement activity 12: Improve public spaces, greenways and recreational facilities across the city
• Improvement activity 13: Deliver the first year of the Smart District programme
• Assessment of progress of improvement objectives
• Quantifying our performance
• Economic development
• Waste to landfill
• Recycling Rate
• Waste arisings
• Average processing time for major planning applications
• Average processing time for local planning applications
• Enforcement cases concluded
• Prompt payments
• Sickness absence rates
• Assessment of progress of statutory performance indicators
• Footnotes

Overview

Understanding the context

This assessment of the council’s performance in the 2022-2023 period provides an overview of the many improvements that Belfast City Council has progressed over the past year. At the beginning of the year we set ourselves five key improvement objectives and, within these, agreed the main activities that would help drive those objectives forward. This report illustrates exactly what we’ve achieved against these activities.  However, these are strategic objectives and as such provide only a snapshot of the vast amount of improvement activity taking place all the time within the council.  Individual services and departments refine and improve the way they do things on a continuous basis.  For us ‘Improvement’ is about more than just efficiency savings or enhancements to services.  Whilst these are very important to ensure citizens receive the high quality, value for money services that they expect and deserve, our improvement plan has to make a difference also to people’s lives.  It must improve local quality of life and it must help build a sustainable future. We continually look at what has worked well elsewhere, listen to customer feedback and consider more efficient ways of doing things both at a service improvement level and at improving the broader quality of life.

The information provided in this report meets our obligations under the Local Government (NI) Act 2014 to publish details of our arrangements to deliver continuous improvement.  We continue to use what we learn to inform our future activity and to use our resources in a way that maximises their impact for the people who live here and for those who visit, study and work in the city.

Since early 2020 COVID19 has brought new challenges for everyone around the world, for our health, society and economy. In order to allow us to refocus our efforts and reconfigure services to support the pandemic response we published the “Belfast Our Recovery” document in September 2020. This document set out the areas we needed to focus on in the short term during the initial stages of the pandemic and looking forward, what we needed to build on for sustained recovery. Through our 2022 -23 improvement plan we set out how we would build on this to look ahead to allow our city to recover and resurge even stronger.

Selecting improvement objectives

Previously, we have aligned our improvement objectives to the key priorities within the Belfast Agenda.  To ensure that our focus is current and continues to meet the needs of our residents, each year we review and update as part of our annual corporate planning process our improvement objectives.

In March 2022 we issued five draft improvement objectives for public consultation which were aligned to the recovery plan. Given the high levels of support, evidenced by the consultation, the proposed improvement objectives were formally approved by SP and R Committee in June 2022.  Belfast City Council agreed that as a council we would:

• Continue to adapt and improve our services
• Work to support our communities, helping them to become stronger, healthier and more resilient
• Work collaboratively to support businesses, jobs and inclusive growth
• Champion climate action; protect the environment and improve the sustainability of Belfast
• Continue to support our city to recover and innovate in a safe, inclusive and sustainable way

Delivering improvements

Lots of the work we do helps us to achieve these improvements. For example, working collaboratively to support businesses, jobs and inclusive growth depends not only on large-scale projects to stimulate growth; it also requires a clean, attractive city with space, good health and leisure opportunities and a strong sense of safety and community. Their success depends on making sure that we deliver high quality effective services on the ground.

However to make it easier to monitor our performance we also identified a total of 13 activities that we would use to demonstrate progress against each objective. Updates on the progress of these activities are reported to our committees on a regular basis. In addition, updates on the Improvement Plan, as a whole, are reported to our Audit and Risk Panel and Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at mid-year and year-end.

Discharging the general duty to secure continuous improvement in 2022-2023

Arrangements in place to secure continuous improvement

Belfast City Council has well established governance arrangements in place to ensure delivery of all of our plans and these arrangements are used to ensure that all of the activity underpinning our improvement objectives is monitored on an ongoing basis. These arrangements include:

• an aligned planning process – where activity is ‘planned’ in at the relevant level (Committee, Departmental, Service, Area)
• formal regular monitoring of plans and reporting of activities within plans to relevant committees
• quarterly reports of our programme of activity to the Audit Assurance Board
• mid-year and year-end reports of our overall programme of activity to Strategic Policy and Resources
• consideration of the full costs included in our estimates process
• appropriate risk management arrangements for all programmes of work
• aligned monitoring, reporting and performance management arrangements underpinning all of the above including reporting cycles for finance and other cross cutting performance information at a corporate management team level

Our commitment to continuous improvement remains. Given the current changing environment, we recognise the need to be agile and adapt to changing circumstances and this has been reflected in both how we adapted during 2021-2022 and what we included in our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023. Belfast City Council has well established governance arrangements in place to ensure delivery of all of our plans and these arrangements ensured that all of the activity underpinning our improvement objectives for 2022-2023 were monitored on an ongoing basis.

Continually meeting resident expectations and ensuring that our services are efficient and fit for purpose is a key priority for council. Therefore in 2022-2023 we took steps to ensure our services adapted and improved in the short and longer term focusing on:

• continuing to invest in and improve the quality of our leisure centres
• implementing our Customer Focus Programme
• developing new procedure to protect port health and adapt to Brexit transition

In keeping with the spirit of our improvement duty we do not just ‘plan in’ improvement at one point in the year.  We work hard to improve the experience of citizens throughout the year. 

As a responsive, proactive organisation, we recognise that there will be occasions when we need to adapt what we do, perhaps even to divert from planned activity and realign resources to cope with an emerging need. 

Progression, achievement and outcomes from our 2022-2023 improvement objectives

Improvement Objective 1: Continue to adapt and improve our services

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023, we said we will take steps to improve customer care practices to increase resident satisfaction and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services. We will continue to adapt and improve our port health service as it responds to Brexit and the changing needs of the city. We will do this by:

• ensuring our environmental health and city protection services are fit for purpose post-COVID19
• continuing to implement our customer focus programme
• continuing to develop new procedures and transition arrangements for port health

What are the expected outcomes?

Our work to achieve this objective contributes to:

• improve our customer care practices and to increase resident satisfaction with council and our customer care
• systematically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services
• continue to adapt and improve our port health service as it responds to Brexit and the changing needs of the city

How we measure our performance and impact 

Improvement activity 1: Ensure our environmental health and city protection services are fit for purpose

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023, we said we would:

• facilitate an External Review process of the HMO service by Department for Communities (DfC)
• develop an operational improvement plan for delivery of pest control services
• develop a corporate Safeguarding Policy and related procedures

Specific achievements included:

• Work continues on developing key aspects of the HMO service delivery and most recently, the Landlord Training module has been uploaded to the BCC HMO website which was an outstanding item raised during the HMO Review. The council has requested that DfC make amendments to the HMO Act and Guidance as part of the Review to assist with the service delivery of the function and to provide clarity for the benefit of both landlords and officers. DfC have indicated that the Review is awaiting sign off by the Permanent Secretary who may have the authority to sign off in the absence of a Minister under the newly designated powers afforded to Permanent Secretaries in the absence of an Assembly. Upon release of the Review the council will have a determination from DfC on any planned legislative changes that were requested as part of the Review process to assist Council officers with delivery of the service.
• Work was underway in preparation to provide treatment of wasps nests in Q1 of 2023-2024 however with increasing customer demand re surface pest treatments the priority focus will be on sewer baiting, and wasp nests treatments are thus unlikely to resume in summer 2023.
• Internal Audit of Pest Control completed in Q3, with work underway to address the issues highlighted.
• The Service Design Project for Pest Control will commence in June 2023 with an expected completion date of the end of September 2023.
• The council approved a new Safeguarding Policy in December 2022. The policy includes two distinct sections, one for children and young people and a second for adults. Developed by our Safeguarding Panel and issued for public consultation last year, the policies set out the procedures we have in place to support staff.

Improvement activity 2: Continue to implement our customer focus programme

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Finalise Customer Hub KPIs – for example calls and emails answered within agreed standards, call abandonment, repeat calls, customer satisfaction, corporate complaints
• Roll out digital Improvements: online forms automation; soft phones roll out; generic email account inventory and standards; telephony recording
• Develop approach to transitioning services into the Customer Hub
• Pilot service design approach with Building Control system replacement

Specific achievements included:

• Finalised and implemented Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and associated measures for the Customer Hub which includes setting targets and reporting on performance to the Customer Delivery and Oversight Boards. Noted high performance on Customer Hub KPIS Q2 and Q3 with decrease in Q4 as result of increase demand.
• Provided detailed analytical information and insight for the current onboarded services to the Departmental Management Team (DMT) on performance of handoffs including interactive Power BI Management information dashboards. Including series of workshops for frontline collection managers and senior management within this team.
• Rolled out digital improvements as part of a rolling programme of online form automation based on volumes received and benefits to the Customer Hub processing time. This will save processing time of around 25,000 forms per annum. Significant processing time saving, and improved customer contact achieved in December during significant spike in demand.
• Progressed other digital improvements such as softphones, generic email accounts registration, development of one council approach to contact standards, and telephony.
• Development and roll out and maturation of “Report it App” for Resources and Fleet Collections to support operational and customer improvements and wider service improvements and associated reporting.
• Completed Service Baselining of Building Control as a part of developing the transition approach and supporting the preparation for Building Control onboarding.
• Progressed the transition approach, service baselining, through the formation of a steering group which reviews and approved products at each stage in the formation of the approach. This will now be utilised to support a wider Change Board
• Progressed the Service Design Pilot with customer personas and customer journeys identified with the project team to assist in the design of the Building Control Systems replacement.
• Other Achievements within Financial year 2022-2023 include:
• Opening of physical customer hub and improvement and use of Bulky Waste tracking for Customers.
• Improvements made to issuing customer satisfaction questionnaire resulting in an increase in returns volume now over 100 per month and average satisfaction of more than 75 per cent

Improvement activity 3: Continue to develop new procedures and transition arrangements for port health

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Review and update the resourcing and staffing model to reflect any new arrangements for the NI Protocol following UK and EU discussions
• Work with DAERA and FSA to develop a sustainable funding model to secure necessary funding for the Port Health service and obtain assurance for the 2023-2024 financial year as a priority
• Review BCC Port Health IT systems requirements in context of emerging EU and UK system solutions and IT automations (under development regionally and nationally) to support NI Protocol implementation

Specific achievements included:

• Completed an interim review of the temporary staffing model for Port Health, this will reduce reliance on Environmental Health Officers for documentary or administrative duties.The revised model has been implemented and recruitment to new posts was undertaken during 2022-2023 year with most posts now filled. This will need a further review once policy and practical arrangements for the Windsor Framework are confirmed with partners.
• Participated in engagements with Food Standards Agency (FSA), Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and UK Government Departments to understand emerging developments and potential impacts of proposed Windsor Framework implementation.
• Submitted our resourcing estimates for 2023-2024 financial year to support FSA and DAERA bids to Department of Finance (DoF) and HM Treasury (HMT) to secure funding.
• Reviewed and updated IT system mapping work and undertook engagement with stakeholders to consider the wider systems approach needed for delivery of regulatory functions at Points of Entry and NI Protocol (Windsor Framework) anticipated requirements. Engagement with DAERA, FSA and SOLACE took place resulting in commencement of a DAERA programme of work to develop existing IT systems to facilitate an integrated one system IT approach (where appropriate) with councils.

Milestones for objective 1

Understanding project status in milestones tables

In each milestones table, we describe project status as Red, Amber or Green:

Red means 'project delayed'
Amber means 'project progressing with delays'
Green means 'project is on target'

Responsible Chief Officer: Strategic Director of Neighbourhood Services
Reporting Committee: People andCommunities Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of City and Organisational Strategy
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services
Reporting Committee: People and Communities Committee

Improvement objective 2:  Support our Communities

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we will work with our communities, helping them to become stronger, healthier, and more resilient by:

• implementing of the £8m neighbourhood regeneration fund for capital projects
• developing enhanced approaches to civic engagement and the involvement of the VCSE sector
• encouraging participation in sport and physical activity

What are the expected outcomes?

Our work to achieve this objective contributes to:

• improve local neighbourhoods and increased resident satisfaction with their local area
• empower residents and local communities and give them a say on the things that are affect or are important to them
• improve parks and playgrounds and to encourage and enable our residents to lead more active and healthier lifestyles

How we measure our performance and impact 

Improvement activity 4: Implementation of the £10m neighbourhood regeneration fund for capital projects

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Stage 1: Application (emerging projects) - Assess, moderate and approve applications to proceed to Stage 2
• Stage 2: Development (uncommitted projects) - Work with successful Stage 1 applicants to develop their projects
• Preparation for launch of Stage 3 in 2023-2024
• Development of Outcomes Based Accountability approach to measuring success of the programme

Specific achievements included:

• Conducted an open call application process between February and May 2022 with advisory support available for applicants as part of Stage 1 – Application phase.
• Completed work on eligibility checks, panel assessment and moderation as part of the Stage 1-Application phase. In line with the agreed timeframe, this intensive period of eligibility review, validation, panel assessment and moderation has now been completed. As agreed by Council, projects were assessed and scored against four key criteria: affordability, feasibility, deliverability, and sustainability.
• Carried out intensive preparation for Special Area Working Group Meetings during October and November to consider the movement of projects onto Stage 2 – Development at Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.
• Appointed Project Teams for 21 projects selected to progress to Stage 2 by AWGs.
• Provided feedback to NRF Stage 1 applicants.
• Officers continued their engagement with 21 Stage 2 clients.
• Commenced appointment of consultants to develop business cases for Stage 2 projects.
• Ensured that the NRF Outcomes Based Accountability approach is embedded within the development of the Stage 2 projects.

Improvement activity 5: Develop enhanced approaches to civic engagement and the involvement of the VCSE sector

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Support Council and the Belfast Community Planning Partnership to enhance civic participation, including the introduction of participatory budgeting (PB) pilots
• Work with the CPP and other partners to improve how we engage with young people and seldom heard communities
• Hold the annual VCSE conference in person (subject to COVID19)
• Work with the VCSE Panel to develop and deliver a wider programme of engagement with the sector
• Issue a quarterly newsletter to update stakeholders on the work being undertaken by the panel and raise

Specific achievements included:

• Worked with the colleagues across Council to raise awareness of participatory budgeting (PB) and to grow our understanding of PB.  We created a dedicated PB hub on our Your Say Platform, which includes animated information video about PB and links to the first PB exercise in Belfast – Move More and Eat Well to Feel Better. 
• Collaborated with the Community Planning Partnership and the Active Belfast Partnership, to agree a PB budget and commence the planning process for the first PB pilot process. Held two PB briefing workshops involving the key partners and VCSE organisations who will help support the PB pilot and established a cross-sectoral PB Design group to develop and oversee the PB pilot. The Design Team has finalised an agreed process for the PB pilot, including funding criteria and eligibility. Two representatives from the VCSE Panel were invited to sit on the ‘Move More Eat Well’ PB design team. 
• Applications for the PB pilot was formally opened on 6 February but prior to that we worked with our community reps to spread the word and encourage groups to apply. Several information sessions (15) were held in local community facilities across the city. Applications closed on 20 March. Although we received lower than expected application – (46), many were from groups who had never received funding before, including groups from BME communities thereby enabling us to reach and develop links with new groups.  The decision making ‘market stall’ events were held in April. 
• As part of our work to improve engagement with seldom heard groups, including new communities and young people, we invited a representative from ArtEkta to the PB Design Team and deliberately designed the decision- making events to appeal to families and younger people. Anyone over the age of four was entitled to vote.  Summaries of the Move More Eat Well PB was provided in six other key languages. 
• As part of the ongoing review of the Belfast Agenda - “continuing the conversation”, we worked with the VCSE panel to design the engagement programme and develop actions plans as part of the detailed action planning phase with representatives from the VCSE Panel on each of the priority working groups. The Phase Two engagement was officially launched in October 2022. As part of this phase of the engagement we held 10 workshops, online and in person workshops. The workshops sought to engage by geographical area, thematic issues including a business and developer’s workshop. We held a bespoke and targeted equality workshop to enable seldom heard voices to feedback and shape the revised Belfast Agenda and to reach seldom heard voices via an equality, diversity and inclusion workshop. Online discussion forum were also available for each priority area on the Your Say Platform, whilst participants could also submit written comments via comment boxes at the workshops.
• Summary material was translated into Irish and six minority languages to promote participation and inclusion. A member of the Youth Council attended the BCC Equality, diversity and inclusion workshop (Belfast Agenda), in November.
• 176 participants from 110 organisations participated on the workshops and online.
• We procured a new support contract until March 2024 for the VCSE Panel with the project initiation and key deliverables agreed and updated the membership of the VCSE panel to take account of changes in personnel in line with the agreed recruitment.  We continue to support the Panel as required; however, the ongoing management of the Panel now predominately rests with the Chair and independent support organisation. We have issued four newsletters or communications via the YourSay mechanism to the VCSE network and have held two extended meetings or workshops with the VCSE Panel to review the emerging Belfast Agenda priorities and to discuss the next phase of the engagement.
• ​We continue to work closely with the VCSE Panel on Belfast Agenda related engagement. Members of the VCSE Panel participated in the collaborative ‘priority development’ groups. These groups developed the proposed strategic intent actions and stretch goals under each priority which have been used for the Belfast Agenda Phase two engagement process. A series of engagements events were held in local areas and online during Quarter 3 with good attendance by the sector. The VCSE Chair and Vice-chair helped introduce these engagement sessions. Members of the VCSE Panel and local community organisations are also part of the Move More, Eat Well PB Design Team.

Improvement activity 6: Improve our parks and playgrounds and encourage participation in sport and physical activity

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023, we said we would:

• Maintain our Green Flag and Green Flag Heritage Award status across our parks and open spaces (20)
• Develop a five-year action plan for the delivery of the Belfast Open Spaces Strategy
• Deliver the Playground Improvement Programme 2022-2023 at Westlands, Sally Gardens and Areema Drive playgrounds
• Initiate major capital project to improve Marrowbone Millennium Park
• Initiate major capital project to improve Pitt Park
• Initiate major capital project to improve Paisley Park
• Initiate major improvement works to Ballysillan Playing Fields in collaboration with partners
• Complete works and launch new city park and playground at Páirc Nua Chollan
• Produce the Belfast Physical Activity and Sport Development Strategy
• Deliver Boxing Strategy Action Plan

Specific achievements included:

• Retained all 20 Green Flag Awards and the Heritage award for Botanic Gardens
• There has been limited progress in Q4 to develop a five-year action plan for the delivery of the Belfast Open Spaces Strategy (BOSS) due to resource constraints. Given the operational nature of tasks and activities across the department, and new and emerging issues towards the end of the year, we had limited resources to deliver on this strategy. It remains in our business planning for next year and will receive priority as soon as appropriate resources are in place.
• Completed works at Clarawood Playground (junior zone)
• Under PIP 2022-2023 – completed refurbishment works at Westlands playground (Upper Waterworks Park)
• Commenced construction works at Sally Gardens playground (handover mid-May 2023)
• Completed design work for Areema playground (construction work started mid-May 2023)
• Works progressing well at Marrowbone Millennium Park.  Currently on programme and due to complete in autumn 2023.
• Planning application submitted and work on 3G pitch at Paisley Park progressing well. Planned completion in autumn 2023.
• Contractor appointed for Pitt Park. Works due to commence on site subject to materials supply.
• Completed public consultation process and technical design work continuing for Ballysillan Playing Fields including the Planning application process.
• Work completed at Páirc Nua Chollann in November. Park was successfully launched.
• The initial consultation process of the new Belfast Sports Development and Physical Activity Strategy with all identified stakeholders took place and was completed in January 2023. The Draft strategy is now being completed and will be presented to the projects board members by the end of June 2023. The draft will then be completed and public consultation will commence in September or October 2023.
• ​6,745 participants have taken part in activities delivered through the Boxing Strategy Action Plan in 2022-2023.

Milestones for objective 2

Understanding project status in milestones tables

In each milestones table, we describe project status as Red, Amber or Green:

Red means 'project delayed'
Amber means 'project progressing with delays'
Green means 'project is on target'

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of Physical Programmes
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of City and Organisational Strategy
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services, Director of Physical Programmes
Reporting Committee: People and Communities Committee, Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Improvement objective 3: Support our Economy

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we will work collaboratively to support businesses, jobs and inclusive growth by:

• delivering Employment Academies
• delivering local business start-up programmes
• supporting social enterprises and co-operatives

What are the expected outcomes?

Our work to achieve this objective contributes to:

• Refocusing our employability and skills programmes in response to the new COVID-era challenges we now face
• Supporting residents into employment (through participation on our employment academies)
• Supporting local businesses to start up and grow
• Encouraging and supporting the development of the social enterprise and cooperative sector

How we measure our performance and impact 

Improvement activity 7: Deliver employment academies, local business start-up programmes and support for social enterprises and co-operatives

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023, we said we would:

• Deliver employment academies in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, care sectors, and customer service
• Continue to work with partners to identify, design and deliver further Employment Academies
• Continue to develop a revised approach to business start-up support to be introduced 23-24
• Continue to deliver the ‘Go For It’ programme for start-up support for 2022-2023
• Increase the levels of community outreach to encourage cooperatives and social enterprises
• Continue to support new start-up cooperatives and social enterprises

Specific achievements included:

• In the first two quarters, we delivered employment academies in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, care sectors, and customer service. Whilst most Employment Academies were not scheduled to be recruited for until September 2022 onwards, a number of academies have commenced in Q1 namely BCC General Operative, BCC Business Support Tech Employment. Other Employment Academies are currently open for recruitment with over 300 referrals to date and include Fibre, Logistics, Construction, Social Care, Childcare and Tech (pending employer commitment). The Upskilling Academies are being rolled out at Levels 2, 3 and 5 for Childcare, Social Care and Teaching or Classroom Assistants.
• Worked in collaboration with partners to develop a new G4S Business Services Academy which launched in August 2022. 16 participants have been recruited for our first ever Tech Academy from July 2022 with 12 job outcomes to date.
• Completed the recruitment process for a Business Services Employment Academy and a Classroom Assistant Upskilling Academy which commenced in September.
• Delivered an Employment Academy roadshow in September for over 200 residents across the city. In addition to this, officers promoted Employment Academies at jobs fairs in Duncairn Arts Centre, Kennedy Centre, Park Centre and St George’s Market.
• Shared Prosperity Fund – Belfast City Council on behalf of all councils across the region have been successful in securing a ring-fenced allocation of funding through UKSPF to support the delivery of a future enterprise support service. This will be up to £17million over a 2-year funded period to support programme delivery, and includes £5million in grant allocations.  Work is now progressing with councils across the region to mobilise the new enterprise support service which will launch in September 2023.
• Continued to deliver the ‘Go For It’ programme for start-up support for 2022-2023. By December, 357 individuals had developed a business plan through the programme, which supported the creation of 214 jobs.
• Through our support for the social enterprise and cooperative sector this year we have engaged 76 individuals through outreach activities, supported 48 individuals or organisations to establish a new social enterprise or cooperative and engaged 33 young people through our youth programme. We launched our incentive fund in Q3 receiving 45 applications, 17 were shortlisted and invited to a pitching day held at Innovation Factory in November. The panel scored shortlisted pitches and awarded just under £50,000 to eight social enterprises and cooperatives across the city to enable them to start-up or grow their organisation to create a positive social impact for their beneficiaries.
• Since April 2022, we have had over 700 places on Employment Academies, utilising Council’s and additional resources through the Labour Market Partnership, Learning and Work Institute’s New Futures programme and the Community Renewal Fund. On average, 93 per cent of those who started an Employment Academy successfully completed, and for those, we achieved an into-work rate of 75 per cent.
• The most attended academies were in logistics, education, construction and upskilling academies for people in traditionally low-paid sectors.
• All Employment Academies are now digitally badged as an alternative validation of achievement, with 779 badges issued to participants. In addition to this, the council is working with six organisations in the city to use Digital Badging for their own participants or employees.
• Officers have engaged councils to progress the enhanced approach to business start-up and growth support. DLUHC committed up to £17m for an 11-council Entrepreneurship Support Service (ESS), over two years from April 2023.
• Business start-up activity engaged 503 individuals, with 476 developing a business plan through ‘Go For It’, supporting the creation of 299 jobs. 70 had additional one-to-one mentoring and financial support to help kick start their business.
• Direct support for 60 Social Enterprises and Co-operatives included one-to-one mentoring, advice and guidance. Four of these were new co-operatives. Overall Social Enterprise and Co-operative Support included 25 events or workshops with over 300 attendees.To increase awareness of the sector, we also targeted 50 young people in community settings. Our focused engagement with co-operative organisations also continued, this included 10 events, with 42 attendees.

Milestones for objective 3

Understanding project status in milestones tables

In each milestones table, we describe project status as Red, Amber or Green:

Red means 'project delayed'
Amber means 'project progressing with delays'
Green means 'project is on target'

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of Economic Development
Reporting Committee: City Growth and Regeneration Committee

Improvement objective 4: Support our Environment

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we will champion climate action; protect the environment and improve sustainability of Belfast by:

• developing council’s strategic approach to climate change and facilitate partnership working to support delivery of the Belfast Climate Plan
• continuing the roll out of the Belfast One Million Trees Programme and complete the development of the Belfast Local Biodiversity Action Plan
• reassessing and improve our approach to waste and recycling, taking into account any implications from the COVID19 pandemic

What are the expected outcomes?

Our work to achieve this objective contributes to:

• Embedding a strategic approach to tackling climate change and position Belfast as an environmentally friendly city
• Increasing the level of recycling across the city and reduce our reliance on landfill
• Increasing the number of trees in Belfast, protect the biodiversity of the city and improve air quality

How we measure our performance and impact

Improvement activity 8: Develop Council’s strategic approach to climate change and facilitate partnership working to support delivery of the Belfast Climate Adaption Plan

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Facilitate effective partnership working by leading and supporting the Belfast Climate Commission, Belfast Resilience and Sustainability Board and BCC Climate Plan Programme Board
• Develop a Belfast Climate Plan by March 2023
• Develop a Belfast Climate Investment Plan by March 2023
• Produce a BCC Climate Risk Plan by December 2022
• Produce a BCC Climate Plan by March 2023 [Footnote 2]
• Develop a BCC Climate Investment Plan by March 2023 [Footnote 3]

Specific achievements included:

• Facilitated effective partnership working by co-ordinating meetings of the Belfast Resilience and Sustainability board and co -chairing the board with our partners in NIHE, the Utility Regulators office and NI Water
• Reported into the Climate and Resilience Committee which formally adopted the Belfast City Net Zero Targets from the Carbon Roadmap (66 per cent reduction in emissions by 2025, 80 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2050)
• Co-chaired the Belfast Climate Commission alongside Queen's University
• Co-ordinated and chaired the Belfast City Council Climate Plan Programme Board
• Established an Energy Change Working group to give focus to reducing energy costs for the council whilst addressing sustainability and climate actions
• Collaborated with a range of partners to establish a Retrofit Hub for Belfast hosting four hub meetings and a series of roundtable discussions
• Commissioned consultants to develop a Council Climate risk assessment, Climate action plan and Climate investment plan
• Completed a baseline emissions analysis of BCC
• Completed an energy audit of Waterfront Hall
• Completed a draft Climate risk assessment of BCC
• Supported the development, screening, scoping, delivery and evaluation of pilot climate projects under the £1m climate fund using an agreed framework
• Provided climate literacy training for members of the Climate and Resilience Committee
• Mainstreamed Climate and Environment considerations in the draft Economic Strategy and in the Belfast Agenda via the ongoing review process
• Identified and collated a series of investable climate projects as part of the National Net Zero project pipeline being developed by 3Ci to accelerate the transition to a green economy
• Ongoing delivery of the Belfast One Million Trees project and Horizon funded UPSURGE project within Belfast
• Secured funding for a project UP2030 to establish a net zero neighbourhood framework for Belfast neighbourhoods
• Progressed plans to develop an EVI Strategy for Belfast and funding for EV chargepoints at leisure Centre sites through the FASTER Project and at car parks through the On Street Residential Charge Point Scheme (ORCS)
• Completed an initial data collection exercise to assess the heat demand for a District heat Network in the City Centre
• Collaborated with ICB to scope out a Net Zero Park in the Innovation District
• Initiated procurement of an initial scoping exercise for a carbon offset fund with seven NI Councils
• Submitted the 2022 annual submissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project, achieving an A score for Belfast, and supported the Visit Belfast submission to the GDS Index, which saw Belfast rise to 8th place globally in 2022
• Prepared an OBC to develop a climate data platform which has been submitted to Digital Services
• Supported LSE research into a Just Transition Bond for NIHE to decarbonise NI’s entire social housing stock with further research underway to scope a City Regeneration Bond
• Completed a draft Belfast SFP Framework and Action Plan to support renewal of Bronze Sustainable Food
• Secured project development funding from Shared Island Fund for two projects (with Cork and Dublin)
• Supported a carbon roadmap for the Belfast City Region Deal area
• Progressing a Belfast Local Area Energy Plan which is scheduled early January and due to complete in December 2023. This will inform the Belfast Climate plan which will commence in April 2023.

Prepared a proposal to the Pioneer Places Fund to develop a plan to support the commercial deployment of green hydrogen technologies in the Innovation District

Improvement activity 9: Reassess and improve our approach to waste and recycling

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• agree the way forward for the expansion of the kerbside sortation model for recycling.
• report to the council and identify actions moving forward regarding the ‘More Circularity, Less Carbon’ project.
• develop proposal for single use plastics policy for the council.

Specific achievements included:

• Approval granted from Strategic Policy and Resources Committee. Committee to procure new interim contract.
• In collaboration with the Association of Cities and Regions Plus (ACR+) and Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) completed a report on the ‘More Circularity, Less Carbon’ project, the recommendations of which will be embedded into future waste plans.
• Strategic Outline Case for Single Use Plastic Policy (SUP) was presented to the Climate Board. Following a request, from the Board, for an Expression of Interest exercise to be conducted, this was completed in Q3. Funding from the Climate Fund was approved in Q4.
• BCC signed up to the KNIB Plastic Promise and the draft Plastic Promise pledge was approved at June’s People and Communities Committee.

Improvement activity 10: Protecting our environment and local biodiversity

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Complete development of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan
• Review capacity to ensure compliance with Statutory Biodiversity duty
• Agree council approach to funding for a fleet replacement strategy in order to transition to an alternative fuel
• Deliver HVO plan to convert compatible vehicles from diesel to HVO
• Development of a tree strategy for Belfast
• Belfast One Million Trees - carry out site identification and assessment
• Belfast One Million Trees - carry out tree planting
• Belfast One Million Trees - conduct annual tree count
• Belfast One Million Trees - conduct annual land call
• Belfast One Million Trees - carry out site identification and assessment

Specific achievements included:

Local Biodiversity Action Plan

• There has been no progress in Q4 to complete the development of the Local Biodiversity Action Plan or review capacity to ensure compliance with Statutory Biodiversity duty due to a continued lack of human resource.  Given the operational nature of tasks and activities across the department, and new and emerging issues towards the end of the year, we had limited resources to deliver on this strategy.  It remains in our business planning for next year and will receive priority as soon as appropriate resources are in place.

Air Quality

• Fleet replacement initial target date was Sept 2022.  A report was presented, on Resources and Fleet position for longer term transition to electric vehicles and interim steps required, to a capital thematic session. This is currently being considered, along with other possible external funding options.
• HVO trial was completed in August 2022. A report was presented to the Waste Programme Board in October 2022 and People and Communities Committee in November 2022, with agreement to move appropriate (bunker supplied) fleet to HVO.  Procurement exercise has been completed and all appropriate fleet (approx. 85 per cent fuel usage) has now transitioned to HVO from (Jan 2023).

Belfast Tree Strategy

• Nov to Dec 2022 – Presentation of draft strategy to People and Communities Committee approval given for commence of consultation and ratified at Dec 2022 full Council meeting
• Jan 2023 to April 2023 Public Consultation Activity and Community Engagement commences

Belfast One Million Trees

• Completed six new school tree planting plans and four farm plans produced.
• Completed the Belfast i-Tree ECO report
• Co-ordinated meetings with the Million Tree Delivery team to identify sites and next steps
• Planted 63,500 trees
• Site identification and planting of council sites has been limited so far in the 2022-2023 planting season due to the awaiting of the adoption of the Tree Strategy.
• One Million Trees has supported the delivery of a tiny forest on NIHE land, development of a tree nursery at Queens, and four urban sites coming forward for assessment on partner’s land.
• A task and finish group has been setup to identify the feasibility for re-establishing a sustainable and native tree supply for the council at Beechvale Farm. 
• A community engagement programme has started in partnership with Belfast Hills Partnership. Awareness raising, ‘give a tree a home event’ and planting day at King George V Playing Fields in East Belfast.
• 4.3 hectares of ancient woodland has been restored in the city at Campbell College and restoration work is ongoing on Cave Hill.

Milestones for objective 4

Understanding project status in milestones tables

In each milestones table, we describe project status as Red, Amber or Green:

Red means 'project delayed'
Amber means 'project progressing with delays'
Green means 'project is on target'

Responsible Chief Officer: Belfast Climate Commissioner
Reporting Committee: Climate and Resilience Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of Resources and Fleet
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Belfast Climate Commissioner, Strategic Director of City and Neighbourhood Services
Reporting Committee: Climate and City Resilience Committee, People and Communities Committee

Improvement objective 5: Protect the environment and improve sustainability

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we will continue to support our city to recover and innovate in a safe, inclusive and sustainable way by:

• Initiate a 2-year pilot City Centre Capital Grant Scheme (Vacant to Vibrant)
• Improve public spaces, greenways and recreational facilities across the city
• Deliver the first year of the Smart District programme and develop a £5 million Innovation for Societal Challenge fund

What are the expected outcomes?

Our work to achieve this objective contributes to:

• Revitalising our city centre and support it to rebuild and develop following the impact of COVID19
• Enhancing our city and people’s lives by providing unique, multi-use outdoor public spaces and high-quality recreational facilities
• Encouraging the adoption of digital innovation across the city

How we measure our performance and impact

Improvement activity 11: Initiate a 2-year pilot City Centre Capital Grant Scheme (Vacant to Vibrant)

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Complete analysis of initial ‘expression of interest’ returns and finalise approach to the grant scheme for launch
• Launch the City Centre Capital Grant Scheme
• Process application and manage the scheme
• Prepare an interim (year 1) review report for committee

Specific achievements included:

• Completed the analysis of initial ‘expression of interest’ returns in February and finalised the approach to the grant scheme for launch with 145 expressions of interest submitted
• Launched the City Centre Capital Grant Scheme in July 2022 and continued to work with Corporate Communications to actively promote the scheme
• Opened the two- year pilot grant application process in July 2022
• Held drop-in advice sessions to give potential applicants one to one advice on scheme eligibility and guidance completing the application throughout July to September 2022 at 2 Royal Avenue.
• Issued over 180 applications and officers are currently working with a number of applicants, providing support to develop their proposals.
• Officers have promoted the scheme with city centre stakeholders including through existing networks such as the three BIDs, Joint Regeneration Group, Community Planning Forums.
• In response to a significant number of meeting requests from potential applicants, a number of Vacant to Vibrant Surgery Days have been arranged during January 2023, offering 30-minutes slot throughout the day either in person, telephone or on MS Teams.
• Panel members continue to be convened at appropriate stages to review and score the applications have been selected.
• Five applications have been approved (two subject to council ratification in February 23), 23 applicants are actively engaging with officers to finalise their applications 13 of these are at pre submission stage, one is under assessment stage, and a further nine are working with officers and are engaging with the property market to identify and secure units prior to progressing business cases. (In January 2023).
• The Vacant to Vibrant Pilot Grant scheme was launched July 2022 and so is currently eight months into a 24-month pilot timeline. Over 200 application packs were issued, and officers are continuing to work with a number of applicants, providing support to develop their proposals. A total of six applications have been approved (one subject to council ratification in April 2023), a further 26 applicants are actively engaging with officers to finalise their applications with an expectation that these will be submitted by summer 2023.
• An update on the scheme was presented to April’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee.

Improvement activity 12: Improve public spaces, greenways and recreational facilities across the city

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023, we said we would:

• Cathedral Gardens: Complete public consultation on design and initiate contractor procurement
• Forth Meadow: complete construction of sections three and four – Springfield Road and Falls Park
• Forth Meadow: commence construction of section five – Westlink to Transport Hub
• Upgrade of the existing access, footways and cycle path through the existing Bog Meadows Nature Site
• Lagan Gateway: complete Phase Two - path connection from Lagan Land East into Belvoir Forest Park
• Ballysillan Playing Fields: Initiate major improvement works to Ballysillan Playing Fields in collaboration with partners
• Boodles Dam: Complete upgrades and improvements to dam at Ligoniel Park
• Templemore Baths: Complete construction works and launch facility
• Girdwood: Continue to develop business case for Girdwood.
• Develop up options for Leisure Transformation Phase Four

Specific achievements included:

• Cathedral Gardens - appointment of design team expected in 23-24.
• Forth Meadow: Sections Three and Four – Falls Park and Bog Meadows - works complete with signage package to follow – handed over 25 November 2022.
• Forth Meadow: Section Five - Planning permission secured in December 2022.
• Forth Meadow: Section Two –Construction works to complete summer 2023 with signage to follow.
• Lagan Gateway - Consultation Report published on Consultation Hub. Letter of Offer received from DFI in March 2023. Investigation works have been carried out and design has been amended accordingly.
• Completed public consultation process and technical design work continuing for Ballysillan Playing Fields
• Completed works at Boodles Dam
• Progressed work at Templemore Baths. The leisure phase has experienced a slight delay and is now due to complete alongside the heritage side of building in June 2023. This will enable the entire building to open at the same time this summer 2023.
• Girdwood Indoor Sports Facility business case has been updated to include feedback from community consultation undertaken during Quarter 3. Costs and operational forecasts are being reviewed and updated within the business case.
• Options are being considered in relation to LTP Phase 4. These options will be aligned to the City and Neighbourhood Services' Physical Activity and Sports Development Strategy, which is currently being developed.

Improvement activity 13: Deliver the first year of the Smart District programme

In our Improvement Plan for 2022-2023 we said we would:

• Design and deliver phase one of the Augment the City programme to enhance the city centre experience through digital innovation
• Deliver the Citizen Office for Digital Innovation pilot capacity building programme working directly with citizens
• Develop the £20 million Belfast Regional Digital Innovation Venture Fund
• Develop the £34 million ‘Innovation for Societal Impact’ fund
• Submit the £30 million Advanced Wireless investment business case for approval [Footnote 6]
• Deliver Year Two of the Horizon 2020 ‘Hubs of Innovation’ programme focused on digital entrepreneurship with communities.

Specific achievements included:

• Final draft of the Augment the City Business case submitted, following substantial engagement with DfE, in late May 2023.
• Work with Nesta has been completed. Recommendations workshop with key partners in March to determine likely options for funding. Work now under way with Queen's University Belfast and others to explore funding.
• BRCD partners agreed to pause further work on the current business case and to develop a new, agile approach to support for advanced wireless. This includes exploring alternative funding sources from UK Government and from industry and to options for including other partners in future approaches. Meanwhile SOLACE are working with all NI councils on the delivery of a new mobile action plan for Northern Ireland.
• Business case is due to complete in June 2023. BRCD partners will then decide on a submission date to seek DfE approval.
• A tender for the design and management of the Challenge fund is due to be issued in June 2023. Launch of the fund is expected in autumn 2023.
• A learning capture piece is underway with a team from University College London – with results expected by the end of June 2023. BRCD partners have begun exploring options for taking forward the ISI fund within the wider context of the Digital Innovation programme.

Milestones for objective 5

Understanding project status in milestones tables

In each milestones table, we describe project status as Red, Amber or Green:

Red means 'project delayed'
Amber means 'project progressing with delays'
Green means 'project is on target'

Responsible Chief Officer: Strategic Director of Place and Economy
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of Physical Programmes
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Responsible Chief Officer: Director of Physical Programmes
Reporting Committee: Strategic Policy and Resources Committee

Assessment of progress of improvement objectives

As outlined throughout this report the vast majority of activities we set ourselves to help deliver our improvement objectives are progressing as intended. By year-end the majority of activities

Based on the evidence provided it is therefore our assessment that the council is delivering on its 2022-2023 commitments and that it is demonstrating strong overall performance.

Quantifying our performance

Statutory indicators year-end position and benchmark with other councils

Results of statutory performance standards for 2021-2022

The Local Government Performance Indicators and Standards Order requires councils to collect and publish information to allow them to measure performance against a number of indicators set by the Department for Communities. This relates to activity in respect of economic development, waste management and planning applications. Our results are outlined for Economic development, Waste to landfill, Recycling rates, Waste arisings, Average processing time for major planning applications, Average processing time for local planning applications, Enforcement cases concluded, Prompt payments and Sickness absence rates.

Economic development

The number of jobs promoted through business start-up in Belfast fell short of its 325 target in 2022-2023. [Footnote 8] ‘Go For It’ provides individuals who wish to start a business with support in the production of their own business plans and in registering for self-employment. Business plans produced as a result of this programme are quality assured by the ‘Go For It’ management team.

In 2022-2023, BCC had 293 new jobs promoted through business start-up (489 client led business plans completed). Although slightly below target Belfast as a City Council with a considerably larger population, outperforms other council areas, representing approximately 17 per cent of the overall programme performance.

Waste to landfill

Amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill Article 5(2) of the EC Landfill Directive sets challenging targets that require member states to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste sent to landfill. The Landfill Allowance Scheme Regulations place a statutory responsibility on councils not to exceed allocated allowances (although allowances can be transferred across Councils). During 2022-2023, BCC landfilled 28,420 tonnes of biodegradable waste [Footnote 9], well below the 50,753 tonnes target set out in the Order. All Councils performed well against their statutory targets and NI as a whole has demonstrated continued improvements by continuing to reduce the volume of waste landfilled over time.

Recycling rate

EU Member states have a legal requirement to recycle a minimum of 50 per cent of household waste by 2020. Household waste sent for recycling includes all household waste prepared for reuse, dry recycling and composting. In 2022-2023, the volume of waste sent for ‘recycling’ in Belfast was 40.5 per cent a slight decrease from the previous year (there is no statutory target for this indicator). The trend of significant pressure on the recycling rate remains as we move into recovery and normalisation phase following the impact of the COVID19 pandemic

Waste arisings

Belfast City Council had the largest volume of arisings out of the 11 Councils in 2022-2023 with 157,831 tonnes [Footnote 10]. Unsurprisingly there is a direct correlation between total waste arisings and the population count of local council areas. There is no statutory target for this indicator but performance over time shows that waste arisings in Belfast has remained relatively consistent over the last number of years, despite continuing population growth in the BCC area. The amount of waste collected by the council reduced by six per cent on the previous year suggesting a return to pre-COVID19 levels and reductions in waste previously generated during public health restrictions.

Average processing time for major planning applications

Major planning applications relate to developments with important economic, social and environmental implications; most are multiple housing, commercial and government and civic developments.

Belfast has a figure of 57.2 weeks average processing times for major applications. This is an increase of 26.2 weeks from the previous year. During 2022-2023, the average processing time across all councils to bring major applications to a decision or withdrawal was 57.9 weeks across all Councils; representing an increase of 8.0 weeks compared with the previous year. It is worth noting that planning activity and processing performance during 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 were impacted by restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, during January and February of 2022 the Northern Ireland Planning Portal was inaccessible for a period of time. [Footnote 11]

Average processing time for local planning applications

Local planning applications are mostly householder, residential and minor commercial applications. They can also include more complex residential schemes up to 49 units and larger commercial proposals [Footnote 12]. The average processing time for local planning applications brought to a decision or withdrawal during 2022-2023 was 19.0 across all councils exceeding the 15-week target. In 2022-2023 the average processing time for Belfast was 19.8 weeks slightly over target but a decrease of 2.8 weeks on the previous year

Enforcement cases concluded

Enforcement cases are investigations into alleged breaches of planning control. The time taken to conclude an enforcement case is calculated from the date on which the complaint is received to the earliest date that a notice is issued; legal proceedings commence; a planning application is received; or the case is closed. The number of enforcement cases concluded and corresponding processing times is not available for 2022-2023 at present. [Footnote 13]

Prompt payments

Councils are encouraged to pay suppliers as promptly as possible. BCC endeavours to pay 90 per cent of valid invoices within 30 days. BCC continues to show steady improvement since 2017-2018 in this regard. The figure for 2022-2023 was 92 per cent.

Sickness absence rates

This is the average number of working days lost due to sickness absence per full time equivalent and the corporate target for BCC is currently at 11.07 days. The BCC rate has increased to 16.33 days on last year’s rate of 10.86 days due to the impact of COVID19 which accounts for 3.34 days of this total (20 per cent of the total figure). At the end of March 2022, the average number of sickness absence days per full time employee was 12.99 days excluding COVID19 absence which is an increase of 2.13 days on previous year. BCC continues to provide a series of health and well-being initiatives to assist with absence management, these include mental health first aid training and webinars to raise awareness and provide support and signposting for staff. In addition an Active Travel Working Group has been set up to encourage more staff to walk, cycle or use public transport when they can. We will continue to monitor and review to ensure adequate resources are in place.

Assessment of Progress of Statutory Performance Indicators

Based on all the evidence provided it is therefore our assessment that the council is delivering on its 2022-2023 commitments and that it is demonstrating sound performance.

Footnotes

[Footnote 1] This figure was artificially boosted for 2021-2022 by one-off additional funding via the Labour Market Partnership. Hence the 2022-2023 target is lower.
[Footnote 2] Milestone timeline amended to reflect the activities completed within the programme of work
[Footnote 3] Milestone timeline amended to reflect the activities completed within the programme of work
[Footnote 4] Milestone timeline amended to reflect the activities completed within the programme of work
[Footnote 5] Milestone timeline amended to reflect the activities completed within the programme of work
[Footnote 6] Additional milestones have been added in Q1 to reflect the progression in the programme of work.
[Footnote 7] Additional milestones have been added in Q1 to reflect the progression in the programme of work.
[Footnote 8] BCC Go For It programme target is 344.
[Footnote 9] DAERA provisional figures – to be verified later in 2023 
[Footnote 10] DAERA provisional figures – to be verified later in 2023.
[Footnote 11] Source: Northern Ireland Planning Statistics: Annual Statistical Bulletin 2021-2022 - https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/system/files/publications/infrastructure/planning-statistics-2021-22-bulletin.pdf
[Footnote 12] Source: Northern Ireland Planning Statistics 2022-2023 Statistical Bulletin.
[Footnote 13] Statistics relating to enforcement case are presently not available. According to the Department for Infrastructure this information will be release later in 2023.