|
Motion to Condemn Planning Ban
|
|
|
MLA's plan to test Secretary of State Peter Hain's stated intentions of listening to the Assembly by putting a motion asking him to lift his blanket ban on planning permission for rural houses. The proposer, Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone, said Planning Policy Statement 14 (PPS14) will be the acid test of whether the Hain Assembly can evolve into something useful. He said: "I don't believe there is a single rural council ....where Peter Hain could have got a majority for PPS14. There is no doubt in my mind that cross-community support for its abolition is massive, as we have seen at public meetings in Cookstown and elsewhere. So it's really a very simple issue of the voice of elected representatives being heard, or Peter Hain preferring to listen to his own voice." Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tommy Gallagher, who seconded the motion said: "PPS14 is a good example of Direct Rule in action and why we need to end it. They announced a policy change on 16th March and a consultation period running to June, but the policy change actually took place before the consultation. It's not just bad policy, it's very bad government that no devolved administration would be guilty of. So we are putting it up to the Secretary of State to find out whether he is serious when he says he will take account of Assembly views. Instead of his sham consultation, we want a meaningful review of rural planning policy for our rural society and its most valuable asset, its people."
PPS14.com calls for all MLA's to support the drive for a better sustainable policy for Northern Ireland than that contained within PPS14. |
|
99% REJECT PPS14 |
|
Judicial Review of PPS14 announced! Lend your support to this initiative. |
|
Living in the Landscape By Jane Burnside RIBA
|
|
Republic of Ireland take opposite view on rural housing! In April 2005, the Republic issued guidelines with a presumption in favour of one off housing. Find out why they see one off housing as an "integral part of a sustainable development of rural areas". Click Here... |
|
Download a letter to send to the Department of Regional Development
|
|
Have Ministers ignored the views of the Rural Community? |
|
Useful Links Elevate - The Rural Planning Experts
|
| Did Double Counting occur in the Minister's planning figures? |
