Gardiner says Minister has promised to look at Environmentally Friendly Options in Rural Housing
Ulster Unionist Planning Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, has said he was glad the Environment Minister Arlene Foster had agreed that a revised rural-planning policy to replace PPS 14 would take account of environmentally friendly housing.
“The Minister was responding to a question I asked after her statement on PPS 14 to the Assembly on 25 Oct. She assured the Assembly that she would look at economic development in the countryside and environmentally friendly housing in any replacement for PPS 14.”
“I have been pressing for some time for a rational set of new guidelines to replace the overly stringent PPS 14. These should include the needs of the rural economy, the social cohesion of rural communities, and a sustainable rural environment in environmentally friendly schemes.”
“Even though the Minister has taken over PPS 14 from the Department of Regional Development this will be short lived. All parties have said it must be dismantled and that will happen. We must keep the pressure on to make this happen sooner rather than later – certainly well before any review of the Planning structures in 2010. I am not happy with the delays in some of the Executive’s timescales for action.”