Mr Paisley Jnr asked the Minister of the Environment if he intends to introduce legislation to deal with trees and boundary hedges in domestic gardens and if he will make a statement.

(AQW 1418/00)

The Minister of the Environment (Mr Foster): I have no plans to introduce such legislation at this time. There is not sufficient evidence to indicate that legislation is needed in this area, or to justify resources being diverted from other important matters to undertake the necessary research, or to progress work where legislation could be introduced. All available resources are committed to an existing programme of work. I will of course continue to keep the Department’s priorities under review.

(AQW 1425/00)

Mr Foster: The following is a breakdown of permissions granted, by year, for alterations to licensed premises in Moy:

The Department has no specific policy on extensions to licensed premises in villages. Each application is considered on its own merits taking account of prevailing planning policies and the statutory development plan for the area.

In the case of an application for an extension to existing licensed premises, the principle of land use would have been established already by virtue of the existing premises. In considering an application, the Department would therefore, take account of visual amenity, traffic impact and the effect that noise or disturbance would have on the amenity of the area.

Mrs Carson asked the Minister of the Environment to outline his planning policy in respect of small village public houses which make applications for major extensions to existing premises.

(AQW 1426/00)

Mr Foster: The following is a breakdown of permissions granted, by year, for alterations to licensed premises in Moy:

The Department has no specific policy on extensions to licensed premises in villages. Each application is considered on its own merits taking account of prevailing planning policies and the statutory Development Plan for the area.

In the case of an application for an extension to existing licensed premises, the principle of land use would have been established already by virtue of the existing premises. In considering an application, the Department would therefore take account of visual amenity, traffic impact and the effect that noise or disturbance would have on the amenity of the area.

(AQW 1461/00)

Mr Foster: The Department’s records show that 45 applicants have received a total of £3,351,000 compensation over the last five years. A breakdown of this is set out below.

(AQW 1487/00)

Mr Foster: Landfill tax is an excepted matter.

I am aware that the UK Government, in its 2000 pre-Budget report, announced its intention to explore how the resources of the landfill tax credit scheme could be better used to increase recycling rates, particularly of household waste. I am not aware of any developments since then.

I am not, myself, in a position to determine landfill tax policy. However, I will explore with the Minister of Finance and Personnel whether representation should be made to Her Majesty’s Treasury about the uses to which landfill tax credit scheme funds are put.

(AQW 1488/00)

Mr Foster: As regards the public sector, my Department has provided financial support to two of the three council groupings, which are preparing waste management plans for their areas. The third group has been promised similar support.

I wrote to all district councils on 9 November 2000 indicating that an extra £3^.5m is being made available for waste management in the financial year 2001-02 and that most of this additional funding would be set aside to assist them with their waste management plans.

Completion of the management plans will help us begin the process of meeting the primary and secondary targets declared in the NI waste management strategy.

As regards private sector organisations, I intend to pursue a market development programme in the first phase of the strategy to prepare the foundation for the targets to be met. The programme, which will involve my Department, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment and other key stakeholder groups, will assist eligible projects designed to develop sustainable markets for recycled materials.

My officials are in the process of completing the arrangements for the appointment of the Waste Management Board, which will play a key role in guiding the programme.

(AQW 1489/00)

Mr Foster: My Department is at present considering a number of planning applications proposing extensions to current landfill sites and the establishment of some entirely new sites.

In addition to normal planning considerations such as environmental and traffic impacts, these applications are also assessed in terms of the contribution they may make to the achievement of the objectives of the waste management strategy, published last year. This requires district councils to prepare waste management plans, which will provide for the disposal of waste in the context of the waste management strategy. The future distribution of waste disposal sites will be determined with regard to the waste management plans. District councils are required to prepare plans during 2001.

In the period prior to the publication of plans, councils will have to make interim arrangements for the disposal of waste. My Department has written to councils to request their proposals for providing such essential interim capacity (EIC) and is presently assessing the responses. The assessment of EIC will be completed in the near future and at that stage it is expected that decisions will be taken on the best way to proceed with individual landfill applications.

(AQW 1511/00)

Mr Foster: The Tullyvar site is owned, operated and regulated by Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council which is responsible for monitoring and recording the detail of the types and quantities of waste deposited.

My Department has issued two authorisations for the Tullyvar site: Planning permission and Water Act consent.

Planning permission was granted in 1990 for infilling and restoration using imported domestic, commercial and construction industry wastes. No conditions were imposed on the planning approval to qualify or restrict the types of waste to be deposited.

However, the most recent Water Act consent, issued in May 2000, restricted waste deposited at Tullyvar to household waste; industrial waste; old cars and trailers; waste from the construction industry; and digested sewage sludge cake as well as some special wastes.

(AQW 1534/00)

Mr Foster: I can confirm that my Department received an application for outline planning permission for housing development on lands totalling 7 hectares, which includes the former Lamont Carpets and Yarn factory, on 29 November 2000.

Part of the application site ^__ approximately 1 hectare ^__ lies outside the development limit for the village of Ballygowan, as defined in the North Down and Ards plan 1984 to 1995, which remains the statutory development plan for the area.

The Ards and Down area plan ‘Issues Paper’ does identify the site as a potential valuable asset for industrial use, and will be a material consideration in the Department’s assessment of the application.

The issue of retaining an industrial land reserve will be fully taken into account before a decision is reached on this application.

(AQW 1545/00)

Mr Foster: The Minister of Education and the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety were sent a Christmas card from the Minister of the Environment.

(AQW 1570/00)

Mr Foster: As outlined in the Programme for Government, the Executive are committed to a comprehensive review of all aspects of public administration in Northern Ireland. Administration of local public services will be considered as part of that review, and I propose to engage the local government sector in that process at the earliest opportunity. The Executive are presently considering the detailed requirements for taking the review forward, and this will inform the programme for consulting local government.

(AQW 1597/00)

Mr Foster: Important woodlands for wildlife and nature conservation in Northern Ireland have been designated by the Environment and Heritage Service of my Department as areas of special scientific interest or are recognised as nature reserves. These measures both secure their future and open the way for their active management.

The Environment and Heritage Service also promotes the retention and expansion of woodland through education and by providing grant-aid for conservation work.

Planning decisions affecting trees and woodland are subject to the policies in the Planning Policy Statement 2 (PPS2) entitled ‘Planning and Nature Conservation’. The Department seeks to protect trees, groups of trees and woodland areas of particular importance if they have nature conservation value or contribute to the amenity of a particular area.

Area plans contain policies to protect specific woodlands and groups of trees. They recognise woodlands designated for their international, national and local nature conservation importance, with a presumption towards their conservation.

My Department also makes tree preservation orders (TPOs) to protect trees, groups of trees or woodlands. In the recent past, a number of TPOs have been made specifically to protect woodland areas. We are considering ways in which the legislation for making TPOs can be strengthened.

The statutory advisory body to my Department, the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside, is holding a seminar in early March specifically to investigate the need for measures to conserve and enhance our forests and woodlands and promote their wise and sustainable use. I look forward to receiving and considering the resulting advice in due course.

My Colleague the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development also has responsibilities in the area of woodland management and regeneration especially in relation to commercial forestry.

(AQW 1607/00)

Mr Foster: Directive 96/61/EC, which deals with integrated pollution prevention and control, has not yet been transposed in Northern Ireland.

This is part of a backlog of work to transpose EU Directives relating to the environment into Northern Ireland domestic legislation which arose before devolution.

However, as a direct result of the recent Budget, I will be able to allocate additional resources to take forward the policy and legislative work needed to achieve the transposition of this and other Directives. The draft Programme for Government contains a commitment to progressively reduce the backlog.

The process of recruiting additional staff has now started. In the meantime, my officials are preparing a consultation paper seeking views on the proposed arrangements for transposing the Directive; this will be issued as soon as possible. I hope that the necessary legislation will be in place by July 2002.

In the meantime, the control of emissions from industrial processes will continue to be regulated under the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which provides a strong and effective means of pollution control.

(AQO 707/00)

Mr Foster: No special areas of conservation have yet been designated under the Habitats Directive by any member state in the European Union. Formal designation by member states follows acceptance by the European Commission of the national lists of candidate special areas of conservation. This process is not yet complete for the United Kingdom.

The UK Government have proposed a total of 576 sites for submission as candidate special areas of conservation, including 43 sites in Northern Ireland.

Of the 43 Northern Ireland sites, 40 have been submitted to the EC, and consultation on the remaining three sites is either under way or will commence very shortly.

Once these outstanding sites have been submitted to the Commission, the Northern Ireland contribution to the UK list of special areas of conservation will be substantially complete. I do acknowledge, however, that there may be grounds for additional sites for Atlantic Salmon in Northern Ireland. I have asked my officials to consider this possibility.

(AQO 703/00)

Mr Foster: It is intended that local government will be included in the review of the public sector which will be conducted by the Office of the First and the Deputy First Minister.

My Department, in partnership with local government, is putting in place the necessary procedures for best value, and it is planned to have the framework and requirements of the regime enshrined in primary legislation by June 2001. A further aspect of modernisation will be the development of a new ethical framework for councillors and council officials. Work on this development is now under way, again in partnership with local government.

(AQO 672/00)

Mr Foster: I have not had any such discussions. Home to school transport is a matter for education and library boards, in accordance with arrangements approved by the Department of Education.

My Department is responsible under the Transport Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 for the general licensing of road transport operators who carry passengers by road for reward. My Department also issues road service licences to these operators in respect of the specific services they provide. Vehicles used by operators are required to meet relevant construction and use standards, which include limits on the maximum numbers of passengers permitted to be carried. My Department’s enforcement staff regulate both operator and road service licences, as well as vehicle standards, as do the police.

A bus permits scheme, introduced in 1990 through an amendment to the 1967 Act, allows non - profit organisations concerned with education, religion, social welfare and other activities of benefit to the community to operate passenger-carrying vehicles. This is the scheme under which education and library boards operate their own buses.

The Environment Committee of the Assembly began a public inquiry into school transport in September 2000. I look forward to seeing the Committee’s report. Its findings and recommendations will be fully considered by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Education and the Department for Regional Development.

(AQO 706/00)

Mr Foster: The UK sustainable development strategy, published in May 1999, acknowledged that the devolved Administrations would have the opportunity to deliver policies for sustainable development which reflect their institutions, landscapes, cultures and ways of life.

The UK strategy established social progress, environmental protection, prudent use of natural resources, and economic growth as the integrated objectives of sustainable development. The strategy also included a set of key principles to support these objectives.

The Executive have endorsed the objectives and principles of the UK strategy. These are reflected in the draft Programme for Government and in many of the departmental policies and programmes that underpin it.

The published Programme for Government will include a target for my Department to publish proposals for a sustainable development strategy for Northern Ireland by the end of June this year. This will be subject to the agreement of other Departments and Ministers.

Publication will be followed by widespread consultation to encourage an extensive and inclusive debate on sustainable development as a key cross-cutting issue.

(AQO 678/00)

Mr Foster: One of the key objectives of the NI waste management strategy published by my Department in March 2000 is to put in place a framework for the preparation of joint waste management plans.

As indicated recently in reply to a similar written question on this topic, my Department has given financial support to two of the three council groupings which are preparing waste management plans for their areas. The third group has been promised similar support.

In addition, an extra £3^.5m has been made available for waste management in the Budget for the next financial year. On 9 November last year I wrote to all of the district councils indicating that most of this additional funding would be made available to them to assist with the implementation of their waste management plans.

It is my intention to distribute the additional monies in a fair and transparent manner, and I will ensure that my officials communicate regularly with the council groupings and individual councils as waste plans are finalised.

While my Department will offer district councils all the help it can, primary responsibility for resourcing the preparation and implementation of waste management plans rests with the councils themselves.

(AQO 680/00)

Mr Foster: It has been practice in the past to stage certain historic buildings grants across a number of years. This applied to projects attracting grant-aid of more than £25,000 for churches or £50,000 for buildings owned privately or by district councils. The purpose was to ensure that the annual budget for historic buildings grant was distributed equitably across applications.

The additional £600,000 being made available this year, for which I am grateful to Minister Durkan and Colleagues on the Executive Committee, will be used to bring forward payments on these large schemes which would otherwise represent commitments in the 2001-02 financial year. This will facilitate budgetary management next year and help avoid the problem of overcommitment which led to the current suspension on the acceptance of new applications for historic buildings grants.

Invitations to claim have been issued in respect of 32 large schemes – 19 privately owned, 2 owned by district councils and 10 churches. The amount to be paid to each will depend on the value of any valid claim submitted in respect of work completed to required standards.

It remains my intention to start accepting new applications from 1 April, subject to the condition that no grant-aid will be payable before the 2002-03 financial year.

(AQO 662/00)

Mr Foster: I am pleased to say that an incentive, in the form of financial assistance, is already available to motorists under the UK Government’s PowerShift programme. This programme, which extends to Northern Ireland, provides grant-aid of 40% to 75% of the additional cost of buying a clean-fuelled vehicle or converting an existing vehicle.

The programme is administered in Northern Ireland by the Energy Saving Trust.

Grants are available, to both private and commercial vehicle users, to assist in the purchase or conversion of vehicles to run on liquid petroleum gas, natural gas or electricity. Grants can range from a few hundred pounds for a clean-fuelled car to many thousands for a larger vehicle such as a refuse lorry or a bus.

The UK Government has also established a forum to review the development of the clean-fuels market. The forum will consider measures to encourage the introduction of cleaner fuels and engine technologies. My officials will be monitoring progress on this work.

Mr Paisley Jnr asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel if he plans to discuss his recent Budget statement with each district council.

(AQW 1546/00)

The Minister of Finance and Personnel (Mr Durkan): The draft Budget that was published in October 2000 provided a full opportunity for interested parties including district councils, to make representations. The draft Budget and the revised Budget were each debated fully by the Assembly and approved on 18 December 2000. I have no plans at present to discuss the final Budget statement with each district council.

(AQW 1613/00)

Mr Durkan: The total capital investment plans for the years 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 are £750m, £750m and £730m respectively. Further details about individual departmental allocations are set out in the public expenditure plans, approved by the Assembly on 19 December 2000.

These allocations may be further enhanced through successful bids against the executive programme funds.

(AQW 1661/00)

Mr Durkan: I refer the Member to my answer to AQW 1613/00 given on 9 February 2001.