Proceedings of the Regional Development Committee
Minutes of meeting held on Wednesday, 14 February 2001
in Clarence Court, Adelaide Street, Belfast
1. Minutes of last meeting
2. Staturory Rules
3. Port of Belfast
4. Spring Supplementary Estimates
5. Date of Next Meeting
6. Regional Transportation Strategy (RTS)
Present were:
Mr A Maginness (Chairman)
Mr A Mc Farland (Deputy Chairman)
Mr PJ Bradley
Mr J Byrne
Mr D Ervine
Mr W Hay
Mr R Hutchinson
Mr P McNamee
Mr J Wells
Apologies:
Mr D Hussey
Mr G Savage
In Attendance:
Mr L Barr ( Committee Clerk)
Mr S Fay ( Assistant Committee Clerk)
Mr N Currie (Executive Support)
Mrs S Young (Administrative Support)
Mr P Doran (Assembly Research Team)
The meeting commenced at 10.34am.
1. Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2001 were agreed.
2. Statutory Rules
(a) The Committee noted details of two Statutory Rules which the Department intends to make. They do not have to be laid in the Assembly.
(b) The Committee discussed two Statutory Rules which have been laid in the Assembly.
Question Put and Agreed: "That the Regional Development Committee has considered Statutory Rule 014/2001-
Trunk Road T3 (Strabane Bypass Stage 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2001
and has no objection to the Rule".
Question Put and Agreed: "That the Regional Development Committee has considered Statutory Rule 026/2001-
Bishop Street Within/St Columb's Court, Londonderry (Footway) (Abandonment) Order (Northern Ireland) 2001 and has no objection to the Rule".
Agreed: That the Department be asked about the policy of using disused railway beds for constructing bypasses.
3. Port of Belfast - Letter from Minister for Finance and Personnel
The Committee discussed the letter received from the Minister for Finance and Personnel about the attendance of officials from the Department of Finance and Personnel at the Committee meeting on 24 January 2001.
Agreed: That the Chairman will reply to the letter summarising the views expressed by the Members.
4. Spring Supplementary Estimates
The Committee discussed the Department's element of the Spring Supplementary Estimates report produced by the Department for Finance and Personnel.
Agreed: That the Committee required advice on the figures and terms used in the report and that ongoing tracking of changes to the Estimates arising from monitoring rounds was required.
5. Date of next meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 19 February 2001 at 1.30pm in room 152, Parliament Buildings to discuss the Port of Belfast issue.
6. Regional Transportation Strategy (RTS)
At 11.20 am officials from the Department joined the meeting. They were:
Mr Ronnie Spence Permanent Secretary
Dr Malcolm McKibbon Director, Regional Transportation Strategy
Ms Aileen Gault Regional Transportation Strategy Division
Mr Bert Bailey Regional Transportation Strategy Division
Mr Peter McWilliams Regional Transportation Strategy Division
Mr Stephen Wood Transport Consultant
They gave a detailed presentation on the RTS and answered Members questions on it.
Mr Wells joined the meeting at 11.51am.
Agreed: That further meetings and consultation would be held as part of the consultation process on the strategy.
The meeting closed at 12.50pm.