Northern Ireland's local daily papers are seeking a judicial review over changes to the publication of planning notices. In October, the Department of the Environment (DoE) withdrew publishing planning applications in the three papers for the Greater Belfast Area. Instead of appearing in the Irish News, Belfast Telegraph and News Letter, they will now appear in weekly local papers. Irish News Editor, Noel Doran, argued that daily papers were not the right place, "Clearly the papers have a strong commercial interest but there is a much stronger public interest issue here. As matters stand, if you live outside of Belfast you will not have access to a newspaper that carries planning notices for the centre of what is our regional capital and there could be some very important matters there."
A Planning Service spokeswoman said the decision was in line with Government advertising policy and subject to a detailed consultation. "The move will significantly reduce the cost of advertising, and planning permission which has a regional significance will continue to be advertised in the daily newspapers."
