Proceedings of the Environment Committee

Minutes of meeting held on
Thursday, 20 January 2000 at 10.30am in room 144, Parliament Buildings.

Present were: Rev. Dr W McCrea (Chairman)
Ms C Hanna (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr T Benson
Mrs J Carson
Mr A Doherty
Mr D Ford
Mr J Leslie
Mr M McLaughlin
Mr M Murphy
Mr E Poots
Mr D Watson

In Attendance: Mrs D Pritchard ( Committee Clerk)
Mr S Fay ( Assistant Committee Clerk)
Mr N Currie ( Executive Support)
Mr J Nulty ( Administrative Support)

1. Minutes of the last meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of 13 January 2000 were agreed.

2. Matters arising.

1. Declaration of interests.

Mrs Carson declared that she is a member of the Lough Neagh Advisory Service.

2. Scheduling of Committee meetings.

The Chairman advised that the Clerk of Committees has still to respond on this matter.

3. Letter from NIC-ICTU about disability impact studies.

The Chairman advised that a response from the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister on this issue is pending.

4. Right of way at Blackwater Road - Sentry Lane, Mallusk.

A letter has issued to the Clerk of Newtownabbey Borough Council about the closure of a path. The response has not yet been received.

5. Changes to the Motor Insurance Bureau agreement.

Advice from the DOE has been sought. Their response has not yet been received.

6. Climate Change Levy.

As agreed, letters have issued to the Minister for the Environment and the Chancellor of the Exchequer about derogation of the climate change levy for Northern Ireland.

3. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) to the meeting at 10.40am.

They were:

Mr Felix Dillon Deputy Secretary, Department of Environment.
Mr Jim Lamont Chief Executive, EHS
Dr John Faulkner Director, Natural Heritage, EHS
Mr Nick Brannon Director, Built Heritage, EHS.

The Chief Executive and the directors made a presentation to the Committee focusing on:

• The aims and roles of the EHS;
• Its structure;
• Its resources;
• The key issues and challenges it faces.

The Committee discussed the matters raised and the Agency representatives gave more detailed information on:

• Waste management issues;
• Efforts to tackle the decline in bog lands;
• The need to improve the infrastructure to prevent water pollution;
• Energy conservation;
• Air quality and emissions;
• Operational links with the Planning Service and the EHS's impact on planning decisions;
• The budget; grant aid and implications of underfunding;
• Liaison with local government, other government departments, voluntary bodies and local communities on environment and heritage matters;
• Liaison with Department of Education to promote awareness in schools;
• Access to the Countryside (officials advised that the Minister would like to consult the Committee about this matter).

The Chairman thanked the EHS representatives and they left the meeting at 11.45am.

The Committee was concerned at the amount of time and information involved in the presentations it has received from the Department and the lack of opportunity to return to some of the matters raised.

Agreed: Members of the Committee will raise issues to be included on the agenda.

The Committee Clerk will produce a paper summarising the major issues raised after all the initial presentations have taken place.

4. The Department's budget.

A brief discussion about the Department's budget ensued.

Agreed: The Minister and his officials should be invited to discuss the budget with the Committee at the next meeting. The discussions will take place in public.

Details in the Programme of Government should be compared to figures in the budget.

Although it was understood that the timing of devolution impacted on when budget figures were available, the Committee must be involved at a much earlier stage in the budget process in future years.

5. McQuillan Skip Hire Case.

Representatives of the Planning Service joined the meeting to discuss issues concerning the approval of planning permission in this case.

The representatives were:

Mr Hugh McKay Chief Executive
Mr John Clelland Director of Professional Services
Ms Cynthia Smith Director of Corporate Services.

They were accompanied by

Mr Denis McCartney, Solicitor, Department of Finance and Personnel.

The Committee asked several questions about the case and were advised:

• Section 44 (4) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 imposes limitations on the power of Committees to call for documents prior to devolution from a Civil Servant. The Committee can, however, ask for the papers and the Department can voluntarily provide them.
• The Committee can call for all papers in the public domain.

• The application in this case and the various papers e.g. Environmental Impact Statements are in the public domain.

• Responses to DOE from statutory consultees can only be released with their prior agreement.
• Objections are written in confidence.
• The Agency can release copies of the planning application, the notice of opinion, a summary of the consultations and objections and the environmental impact statement and addenda.
• The Agency will write to the relevant authorities and seek approval for the release of their papers to the Committee.
• In this case the Agency decided that, even though there were over 470 objections, a public inquiry would have served no purpose and none was held.
• The Notice of Opinion in favour of the application issued in October 1999. The Council must grant a Waste Disposal Licence.
• Having issued the Notice of Opinion, the Agency was legally obligated to issue the final notice.

• The final notice issued on 19 January 2000. Legal opinion was that the notice should issue then because the applicant was entitled to hear the decision first.

The Committee did not accept the explanation for the issue of the final notice just one day before the Agency was due to meet the Committee to discuss the case. The Agency representatives met the Committee on 13 January 2000 for a general presentation on the Planning Service and had been prepared to discuss the case then even though the final notice had not issued at that time.

The Committee felt very strongly that the Agency's explanation for issuing the final notice on 19 January 2000 did not stand up to scrutiny. The Committee Members felt the action was extremely discourteous and disrespectful.

The Agency representatives left the meeting at 12.50pm.

6. AOB

(a) Invitation from UTV

Agreed: Members may participate as members of the audience in UTV's planned series of programmes on the environment but will not be acting on behalf of the Committee if they do so.

(b)Statutory Rule Number 496/1999:

Public Health
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packing Waste)
(Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Agreed: That the rule will be discussed at the meeting of 3 February 2000 when the report on it by the Examiner of Statutory Rules should have been received. Representatives of the Department will attend the meeting.

(c) The Chairman met with the Business in Community NI group on 18 January 2000.

Agreed: Representatives of the group will make a presentation to the Committee. The Clerk will make arrangements.

7. Date of next meeting.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday, 27 January 2000 at 10.00am* in room 144 Parliament Buildings.

* The time of the meeting has since changed to 10.15am.

13 January 2000 / Menu / 27 January 2000