Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
Following a meeting with senior officials in NIEA and Shared Environmental Services (SES), where Jim Allister, accompanied by Cllr Timothy Gaston, raised continuing delays and assessments in planning applications, particularly by poultry farmers, the North Antrim MLA said:-
“I very much share the frustration of many of my farming constituents who have been waiting an inordinate time on planning decisions in applications vital to the viability of their farming enterprise.
“The hubris evident in the anti-farming interests, ever eager to hide behind scares about ammonia impacts, was something I was happy to address in this meeting. The arbitrary and sometimes contradictory diktats from NIEA and SES, aided by the parcel passing, has left many applications in limbo. Meanwhile, a long promised Ammonia Strategy seems no closer, even though papers have been with the minister for over a year.
“The minister needs to take hold of this issue. The economic disconnect demonstrated by environmental purists is leading to valuable projects withering on the vine. It is almost as if some, with no thought to economic consequences, wish agriculture to disappear.
“For me one of the problems of devolving planning to councils has been the doubling of bureaucracy on the environmental front. Previously NIEA alone advised the DOE on such planning applications. Now, the hoops of both NIEA and SES have to be negotiated. The loser invariably is the farmer!
“So, I am calling on the DAERA Minister to act towards unlocking the logjam in essential agricultural planning applications.”