by Adrian Mullan
THE dark days of PPS14, the virtual ban on rural home building, may not be over, despite being ruled unlawful by a High Court judge.
A final high court ruling on the controversial measure on Thursday should have effectively killed the policy but afterwards Environment Minister Arlene Foster reinstalled it for at least the next six months.
She later told the Assembly that PPS14 would continue as present until it is changed in a review proposed for next year.
The minister said, "I will publish a new draft PPS14 within six months and this will be followed by a period of consultation re-issue"
At the High Court, Justice Gillen reaffirmed his earlier indication that the policy was unlawful and that the minister who introduced it, Jeff Rooker, had acted unlawfully and full costs were awarded to Omagh District Council (ODC) which, naturally, welcomed the judgement.
ODC Chairman, Bert Wilson, said, "It is regrettable that the council was compelled to take this case, but it was in the wider public interest that it did so, as the unlawful policy had a detrimental impact on rural communities throughout Northern Ireland, but particularly in Tyrone and the west. Today's declaration that the introduction of PPS14 was unlawful now provides the opportunity for the Executive to develop planning policy appropriate to the needs of rural communities. I would urge that this opportunity is now grasped by Ministers."
The chairman added, "The judgement and the order potentially open up the possibility, subject to time issues and individual circumstances, for applicants adversely affected by the unlawful PPS14 to seek redress against the Department."
Councillor Wilson said he wished to see all the planning applications which were illegally refused or withdrawn because of PPS14 since March 2006, reviewed as a matter of urgency and he called on the Department to implement these reviews without delay.
He went on to say that planning policy cannot be dictated by the administrative needs of the Planning Service, but must address the needs of the local community.
He concluded, "Current planning administration is totally inadequate and fails to provide an acceptable level of service. Delays, difficulties and lack of resources have dogged the service, and efforts to speed up the processing of applications have resulted in reduced contact with elected representatives.
In a statement to the assembly, Arlene Foster said that her department would new assume responsibility for rural planning and a new policy would be published within six months for public consultation.
She said, "It is my clear view that this review will be focussed and short in time scale. Until then the Planning Service cannot operate in a policy vacuum and speculative development is still a real threat to our countryside."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the environmental group, 'Friends of the Earth' said that the judicial review of PPS14 in the High Court only showed that the wrong department drafted the measure, and that the substance of PPS14 itself was not challenges.
John Woods, Northern Ireland Director of Friends of the Earth said, "The judge has not challenged the substance of PPS14. He has simply decided that the wrong Department drafted it. The Department of the Environment will now pick up where their colleagues in Regional Development left off and continue with the review of the policy."
