HC Deb 24 March 1988 vol 130 cc222-3W
31. Mr. Clifford Forsythe

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the responsibilities of a district development officer.

Mr. Needham

Outside the Belfast area, the district development officer service was absorbed into the planning service of the Department of the Environment on 1 April 1986 and the responsibilities of the former district development officers fell to that service. So far as Castlereagh and Newtownabbey districts are concerned, the duties passed to the Belfast development office.

The duties which were passed to the planning service included liaison with other Government Departments, district councils and statutory bodies, the co-ordination of emergency services, urban renewal schemes and the issue of property certificates.