East Derry MLA John Dallat has claimed the failure of the Assembly Executive to make a decision on Planning Policy 14 and its impact on the rural community is "disgrace."
He said: “For more than a year now rural people have waited patiently for the DUP and Sinn Fein to reach agreement on the future of PPS14 but alas with disappointment and despair. It is difficult to understand what the problems are given the amount o
f good advice given to them on how to apply good planning practice and at the same time ensure that rural dwellers have their constitutional right to live in the countryside.
‘Month after month planning applications from rural dwellers are being shelved as we wait for the white smoke to emerge from the chimneys of the Department of the Environment but not so.
“It is every more difficult to believe that this is happening at a time when the construction industry is spiralling into the doldrums and needs a massive injection of new work both from the private and public sectors.”
He added: “Given the number of issues which the two largest parties have failed to reach agreement on, it seems obvious that they should make a concerted effort to at least agree on fundamental matters which are effectively preventing young people in particular from putting a roof over their heads. Too many broken promises have generated a level of despair which is unprecedented even in past times when it seemed there was no hope and no vision.”
The full article contains 260 words and appears in Journal Tuesday Derry Edit newspaper.
