I declare an interest as a member of North Down Borough Council who has been involved in very many planning applications. The Bill is obviously one of the most important to have come before the Assembly. However, I am concerned about its impact over the next decades and about its late introduction in the House. The present system is clearly unacceptable, and no one — developers, councillors, environmentalists and residents — likes it, but the issue is whether this is the right way to go about addressing that.

I will raise a number of concerns. However, before I begin, I wish to pay tribute to the Committee Clerk, her staff and the departmental representatives for the amount of work and time that they put in at Committee Stage over the past two or three months. Those of us on the Committee appreciate just how much work has been done. Within a couple of days of one six-hour meeting, we were given everything in the proper form, and I felt that the work done at that time was amazing. Continue reading “Planning Bill: Final Stage (Assembly)” »

WHY I VOTED AGAINST THE BUDGET?

My fundamental objection to the Budget is the allocation for Health.

I welcome the additional funding but this will do little to redress the long-term structural underfunding of the service. As I pointed out previously, I have no political axe to grind with anyone on this issue. I speak as someone who has had a long interest in health economics since my appointment to the Eastern Health Board in 1981. My concerns about health spending are long-standing and began with the previous Budget, in which our Health Department received an increase of 2·6% in money terms, while the NHS inEnglandwas given a 4% increase in real terms. Our 2·6% increase did not meet inflation, was the lowest for many years and compared badly with the average of around 8% during the previous five years of direct rule. Continue reading “Health Budget” »

Northern Ireland Assembly, Monday 09 March 2011, Executive Committee Business

I sympathise with the Minister on having to delivering this Budget. I have no doubt that he is aware of the negative impact that it will have on the Northern Ireland economy. I am sure that he recognises that the Westminster cuts agenda is ideologically driven and economically illiterate and will have a disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland.

The Minister will also be aware that, whatever impact the cuts may have on the rest of the United Kingdom, they will have a much greater impact on Northern Ireland. The rest of the UK may have emerged from the recession, but there is no evidence that we in Northern Ireland have. We are in a different phase of the economic cycle, and making further cuts when unemployment is still rising and house prices are continuing to fall will drive us back into recession. Continue reading “Budget 2011-15: Programme for Expenditure (Assembly)” »

I will deal first with third-party appeals. In my election campaign, I said that, if I was elected to the Assembly, I would promote third-party appeals. Therefore, I welcome this amendment. However, I now see that, because of the petition of concern, my vote on the issue becomes irrelevant. Not only is my vote irrelevant, but the people who voted for me who wanted to introduce third-party appeals are totally disenfranchised on this issue, which is a total abuse of the Assembly.

That said, the Green Party supports limited third-party appeals. There is a widespread public perception that there is a bias in the Planning Service in favour of developers. Many residents feel frustrated and have lost confidence in the planning system. Time after time, local community groups get together to oppose developments and their views are ignored. Recently, a development in Bangor involved knocking down a Victorian house and replacing it with an apartment block. That was opposed by all the residents, residents’ groups and, in fact, unanimously by the council. Continue reading “Planning Bill: Consideration Stage (Assembly)” »