Victory for rural housebuyers
Councils in Strabane, Cookstown, Moyle and Coleraine stood shoulder to shoulder with Omagh District Council recently when Mr Justice Gillen quashed the moratorium on planning in the country (PPS14) on the grounds that it was unlawful.
Lord Jeff Rooker had introduced the controversial measure which not only had been the catalyst for a huge rise in rural house prices but trying to get planning permission for new homes in the country was virtually impossible. Sinn Fein Councillor Sean Begley was delighted with the decision: "The judgement has thrown out PPS14 and said that the then Minister Lord Rooker had no authority to make such a policy decision. This anti-rural dictate not only completely contravened regional development policy and strategy but also ignored contradictory departmental advice and failed in terms of carrying out a proper consultation." SDLP Councillor Pat McDonnell added: "The real victims of this deeply-flawed attempt at rural policy were the children of the townland - those young people with historic family roots in an area- PPS14 sought to banish them to suburbia where they would be saddled with excessive house costs in a place where they did not want to live.”
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Weather for Derry
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: West
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Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
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