The executive must ensure that “Northern Ireland gets a flexible planning system geared toward creating jobs”, according to NI Conservatives’ environment spokesman, Brian McBride. He spoke after the environment minister, Mark H Durkan, withdrew the Planning Bill, because of legal concerns.
“Certainly some of the provisions of the bill, which handed the First and Deputy First Ministers special powers, were extraordinary and worrying”, Brian explained. “There were legitimate concerns that the DUP and Sinn Féin were exercising a power-grab, which could have proved undemocratic and even raised serious legal questions.”
“It is vitally important, though, that the death of this bill does not mean the death of all attempts at planning reform. The NI Conservatives consult very regularly with a range of businesses and business organisations and an issue which is frequently raised is Northern Ireland’s byzantine planning system. It hurts our economy when key projects are tied up in red tape and legal challenges for 10 years or even more.”
“The National Planning Policy Framework adopted by the government shows that it is possible to cut delays and bureaucracy, while also taking into consideration the need to protect countryside and take the opinions of local communities into account. We need a similarly flexible approach in Northern Ireland, which can reach timely decisions, and help create jobs, rather than hamper the economy.”