RD 14/02 (2)

Proceedings of the Regional Development Committee

Minutes of meeting held in part private / public session on Wednesday 24 April 2002 in room 135, Parliament Buildings

1. Minutes of last meeting
2. Statutory Rules
3. Statutory Rules laid in the Assembly
4. Proposed M1 / M2 Link (Belfast) Order (Northern Ireland) 2002
5. Visit to Wales
6. Water Resource Strategy
7. Railway Safety Bill - Clause by Clause Consideration
8. Implementation of the RDS and Monitoring and Evaluation Arrangements
9. Any Other Business
10. Date of Next Meeting

Present were:
Mr A Maginness (Chairman)
Mr A McFarland (Deputy Chairman)
Mr PJ Bradley
Mr J Byrne
Mr D Ervine
Mr W Hay
Mr R Hutchinson
Mr P McNamee
Mr M Robinson
Mr G Savage

Apologies:
Mr D Hussey

In Attendance:
Mr L Barr (Committee Clerk)
Mr N Currie (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Miss C Lagan (Executive Support)
Mrs S Young (Administrative Support)

The meeting was called to order at 10.38am in public session.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 April 2002 were agreed.

1. The Committee noted four Statutory Rules, which the Department intends to make, but which will not be laid in the Assembly.
2. The Committee considered the Statutory Rules:

The Department intends to make these rules, which are subject to negative resolution.

Agreed: The Committee agreed the course of action proposed in the rules.

The Committee considered one Statutory Rule, subject to negative resolution, which has been made and laid in the Assembly.

Question Put and Agreed: That the Regional Development Committee has considered the Statutory Rule 81/2002 -

Following the presentation by the Department at the meeting on 17 April 2002, the Committee considered the Statutory Rule:

The Department intends to make this rule, which is subject to
negative resolution.

Agreed: The Committee agreed the course of action proposed in the rule.

Members were updated on the progress in the planning for the Committee's visit to Wales.

Agreed: The Committee agreed the proposed itinerary which will include a visit to Glas Cymru and the Welsh Assembly.

Mr John Kelly and Mr Harvey Brunker from Water Service and Mr David McKillen from Ferguson McIlveen joined the meeting at 10.45am. They gave a presentation and answered members' questions on the draft Water Resource Strategy, which is due to, be publicly launched at the end of May.

Agreed: The Department to update the Committee on the number of households in Northern Ireland which are not connected the water supply.

The chairman thanked the officials for their attendance and they left the meeting at 11.55am.

The Chairman welcomed Department Officials to the meeting who would be available to answer any questions that the Committee may have. The Committee then proceeded to a clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill.

Agreed: The Committee was content with the Clauses, Schedules and Long Title of the proposed Bill.

The Department to provide the Committee with the number of private crossings and the number of reported accidents at these crossings.

The Chairman thanked the Department Officials for their time and they left the meeting at 12.25 pm.

Mr Billy Gamble, Mr Ian Raphael and Mr Jim Hetherington from the Department joined the meeting at 12.26am. They gave a presentation to the Committee on the RDS monitoring and evaluation arrangements and answered members' questions.

The Committee discussed the possibility of having an all day meeting due to the increasing number of items for the Committee's consideration. The suggested date of the 1 May was no longer available. It was suggested that consideration should be given to arranging the meeting at a venue outside of Parliament Buildings.

The Committee considered the Infrastructure Funds letter and bids received from the Department. The Committee noted that they were not consulted before the Department submitted the bids. They acknowledged that this appeared to be an isolated case as there is normally timely information and full co-operation from the Department.

Agreed: The Committee Office to monitor future submissions.

The Committee discussed the limited amount of legislation which was coming forward to the Assembly.

Agreed: The Committee agreed that they may wish to return to this issue at a future date and consider whether it wishes to consider bringing forward its own legislation.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 1 May 2002 at 10.30am in room 135, Parliament Buildings.

The meeting adjourned at 1.08pm.

17 April 2002 / Menu / 1 May 2002