Northern Irelands secretary Karen Bradley recently announced new laws to allow major planning applications to be processed in the absence of an Assembly.
The UK government has introduced legislation which will allow civil servants in Northern Ireland to continue making major planning decisions in the absence of the functioning executive.
In May, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) announced that it would stop deciding major planning applications after a ruling in court that civil servants who approved plans for an energy from waste scheme did not have the power to do so.
The DfI lost the appeal against the campaigner Colin Buick, who challenged the department’s decision to approve the plant at the Hightown Quarry Site, near Mallusk.
The appeal judge said “It would be contrary to the letter and spirit of the (Good Friday) Agreement and the 1998 (Northern Ireland) Act for such decisions to be made by departments in the absence of a minister."
"Following the recent decision of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in the Buick case, I recognise that there is a need to provide reassurance and clarity to both the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the people of Northern Ireland on the mechanisms for the continued delivery of public services," Bradley said in her statement.
"So, the legislation I intend to introduce after the conference recess will also include provisions to give greater clarity and certainty to enable NI departments to continue to take decisions in Northern Ireland in the public interest and to ensure the continued delivery of public services."