Written by Colum Delaney, RSPB Northern Ireland Policy Advocacy Officer
RSPB headquarters in Belfast was buzzing on Tuesday (22 October) following the news that Minister for the Environment, Mark H Durkan, had withdrawn the Northern Ireland Planning Bill from the Assembly on the basis that aspects of the Bill were unlawful.
It is not every day that we celebrate the withdrawal of a piece of legislation which, initially at least, was designed to make the planning process better.
However, during the summer additional clauses were added which would have fundamentally changed the legislation and had potentially serious consequences for our natural environment locally. Check out this blog from the RSPB’s Head of Planning Simon Marsh, which deals with the Bill’s most controversial clauses.
I want to pay tribute to the RSPB campaigners and everyone else who played their part in highlighting the dangerous precedent which this draft legislation could have set. I have no doubt that the Minister for the Environment and all of the other MLAs understood the strength of public feeling on the matter.
We wait to see what happens next and whether those MLAs who proposed the extra amendments find another mechanism to bring the Bill forward. The fight may not be over just yet.
For the moment, however, we can all be proud that we played a part in having this draft legislation consigned to history!