Proceedings of the Environment Committee
Minutes of meeting held on Thursday, 15 June 2000
in room 144, Parliament Buildings.
1.Minutes of the Last Meeting
2. Matters Arising
3. Presentation by CALM
4. Draft Equality Scheme
5. Any Other Business
6. Date of Next Meeting
Present were: Rev. Dr W McCrea (Chairman)
Mrs J Carson
Mr A Doherty
Mr D Ford
Mr J Leslie
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)
Apologies: Ms C Hanna (Deputy Chairperson)
Mr T Benson
Mr M McLaughlin
Mr M Murphy
The meeting commenced at 10.46am.
1. Minutes of the last meeting.
The minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2000 were agreed.
top2. Matters arising.
- The impact of the error in the Highway Code. The Department's reply is awaited.
- The McQuillan Skip Hire case.
- Planning approvals.
- Matters outstanding.
- The Committee's programme of work
Agreed.
Officials from Antrim Borough Council will attend next week's meeting.
The Department's reply is awaited.
The Department's reply is awaited
Mr Leslie joined the meeting at 10.50am.
Mr Poots joined the meeting at 10.50am.
At this stage the Committee met in public session
top3. Presentation by CALM.
At 10.52am John McAleese and John Hoey from the Campaign Against Landfill at Mallusk (CALM) joined the meeting and gave a presentation to the Committee about their concerns with the landfill site at Mallusk.
They answered Members questions on the subject.
Mr Ford declared an interest as one of six local MLAs who, along with representatives of CALM, met the Minister on 14 June about the matter.
Mr Ford left the meeting at 11.32am.
He returned at 11.34am.
The Chairman thanked Mr McAleese and Mr Hoey and they left the meeting at 11.52am.
Mr Leslie left the meeting at 11.52am.
Mr Ford left the meeting at 11.52am.
He returned at 11.54am.
top4. Draft Equality Scheme.
At 11.54am Mr David Thompson and Ms Margaret Langhammer, from Central Management Branch, joined the meeting and made a presentation on the Department's draft Equality Scheme. They answered Members' questions on it.
Ms Langhammer said she would confirm if medical opinion is sought in relation to planning applications from people with disabilities/illness.
The Chairman thanked the officials for their presentation and they left the meeting at 12.30pm.
The Committee returned to private session and discussed the presentation from CALM.
Agreed: That the Minister is asked to hold an in-depth public inquiry into the landfill site at Mallusk.
top5. AOB
- Additional funding.
The Committee agreed the priority for bidding for resources from the additional money made available in the March Budget and from End Year Flexibility.
top6. Date of next meeting.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 22 June 2000 at 10.30am in room 144, Parliament Buildings.
The meeting closed at 12.43pm.