58 commercial city schemes await planning decision

Mr Attwood revealed the total saying the figure was accurate up until January 14.

The city had the second highest total number of projects-on-hold in Northern Ireland whilst Belfast had 95.

He explained that applications differ in complexity and in quality of submission and also attract varying levels of objection.

“Consultation with a number of statutory and non-statutory bodies is often required to inform the decision making process, and assessment of all material planning considerations can result in amendments being made to submitted plans,” he stated.

“All of these issues may prolong the processing of an application. A project management approach is used by case officers and line managers in accordance with the Good Practice Guide which was published in June 2009,” he stated.