Proceedings of the Environment Committee
Minutes of meeting held on Thursday, 22 June 2000 in room 144, Parliament Buildings.

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 10.36am.

1. Minutes of the last meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2000 were agreed.

2 Matters arising.

(a)The impact of the error in the Highway Code.

The Committee noted the Department's reply.

(b) Planning approvals.

The Department's reply is awaited.

Mr Ford joined the meeting at 10.42am.

At this stage the Committee met in public session.

3 McQuillan Skip Hire Case.

At 10.45am Mr John Quinn and Mr Ian Suiter, officials from Antrim Borough Council, joined the meeting and gave a presentation on the proposed application by McQuillan Skip Hire for a Waste Disposal Licence .

They answered Members questions on the subject.

Mr Ford declared an interest as a Member of Antrim Borough Council.

The officials left the meeting at 11.36am.

Mr Ford left the meeting at 11.37am.

4 (a) PPS 7 - Quality Residential Environments.

At 11.38am. Ms Hilary Heslip from the Planning Service joined the meeting and gave a presentation on PPS 7. She answered Members' questions on it.

Agreed: That the Committee will return to the matter when the Planning Service submits the final draft for consideration.

Mr Ford returned at 11.50am.

(b) Ms Heslip then gave a presentation and answered Members' questions on the planning aspects of the Regional Development Strategy. She agreed to respond to further questions which would be sent to her.

Mrs Carson left the meeting at 12.41pm.
Mr Leslie left the meeting at 12.50pm.
He returned at 12.53pm.

Ms Heslip left the meeting at 1.00pm.

The meeting returned to private session.

Mr Doherty left the meeting at 1.00pm.
He returned at 1.01pm.

5. AOB

(a) Inquiry into school transport.

Agreed: That the issues of

(a) seatbelts on buses and (b) overtaking school buses when children are disembarking from them
should be examined as part of the Inquiry.
The Committee agreed the terms of reference for the Inquiry.

(b) The Department's budget. - Reply from the Minister.

The Committee noted the Minister's reply.

Agreed: That clarification of the funding of the Historic Buildings Grant is sought from the Department.

At this point the Committee returned to the McQuillan Skip Hire Case.

Agreed: That the Clerk will write to the Planning Service asking for details of the company's application for Water Consent.

That the Department will be asked for details of the hazardous wastes included in the first application from the company but excluded from the second one.

That the Department will be asked about when secondary legislation on the Waste & Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997 can be expected.

(c) New TSN

Agreed: That more information would be sought before the Committee responds to the Minister.

(d) Programme of Government.

Agreed: That the Chairman will write to the Minister expressing concern about the tight deadline which allows the Committee insufficient time to properly scrutinise the matter.

7 Date of next meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 29 June 2000 at 10.30am in room 144, Parliament Buildings.

The meeting closed at 1.21pm.

15 June 2000 / Menu / 29 June 2000