Press release

Environmental Campaigners Ask "What Are They Planning?"

31 January 2012

Friends of the Earth today (31 January 2012) launched a new planning campaign, called "What Are They Planning?" in the Long Gallery in Parliament Buildings, Belfast.

The campaign will call for fundamental changes to the planning system in Northern Ireland.

It follows on from a survey conducted by the organisation, in conjunction with Queen's University Belfast, in the summer of 2011, which uncovered widespread dissatisfaction in the Northern Ireland planning system [1].

Friends of the Earth's Northern Ireland Director, James Orr, said:

"We need a planning system that has the confidence of the people. Less than 5% of people who responded to our survey thought that the current system serves Northern Ireland well [2].

"A good planning system would be just, accessible, transparent, and challengeable. We demand planning by the people, for the people, where those who make the final decisions are accountable to those who are affected by them."

Mr Orr continued:

"Much as we welcome some of the reforms contained in the Planning Act [3], passed in 2011, these merely tinker with the existing system. The legislation goes nowhere near far enough in redressing imbalances that favour private interests and undermine the common good".

"Coupled with the unjust anonymity that continues to be offered to party donors by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, the current system serves to disenfranchise citizens".

"Inclusion and participation are at the heart of what we are campaigning for.  We have called our campaign 'What Are They Planning?' but we want to transform the system to the extent that one day we can ask, 'What Are We Planning?'".  

Notes

[1] For a copy of the initial findings of the survey go to: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/public_and_stakeholder_opi.pdf

[2] 4.7% of respondents said that they thought that the current system serves the people of Northern Ireland "well" or "very well".  79.8% of citizens thought that the system serves them "poorly" or "very poorly."

[3] The Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 was passed just before the 2011 Assembly Elections.  Much as it enacts some important improvements in the system, it leaves too many areas of ambiguity, and even contradiction. It also failed to introduce long overdue measures such as Third Party Rights of Appeal, Community Infrastructure Levy, or a definite timetable for the rollout of provisions passed in the Act.

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Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust