Environment Decision Acting As 'Poacher And Gamekeeper'

The NI Environment Minister has outlined new environmental guidelines to the Executive - and has rejected calls for an independent body to protect Ulster's environment.

But, already the move has sparked a row with conservationists and Executive colleagues.

A member of the Assembly's Environment Committee, MLA for Fermanagh South Tyrone, Tommy Gallagher has said that regulating the environment is one of the most important issues the Assembly has to deal with: "No matter what's in place it will not do the job. This is a huge issue.

"We can't continue with our environment being damaged. We can't continue with the government being both the poacher and the game keeper."

"We must have the environment regulated by an independent body. Anything that we do will fall short of what is needed."

However, the Environmental Heritage Service (EHS) will be re-branded, Minister Arlene Foster told the Assembly on Tuesday.

She said it will be reorganised and will be launched in July with the mission of protecting the built heritage and natural environment.

The move was being welcomed by the Ulster Farmers' Union and her own party - the DUP - but opponents accuse her of dismissing years of concerns by environmentalists, anglers, business leaders and senior politicians that the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), which is under the control of the DoE, cannot adequately protect the environment.

She will not create any new agency as he believes it is not necessary to create one - as is in place in Britain and the Republic.

Instead, her own department's re-branded EHS will continue to police environmental laws - covering everything from illegal dumping to pollution in rivers.

But various groups who came together to call for a new body - as they said the current system is failing and argued the only effective way to protect the environment - and avoid multi-million pound European fines - is to create a body independent from government.

The UUP, who along with Sinn Fein and the SDLP supports a new service, while Friends of the Earth Director John Woods also argued there is broad consensus on the need for one.

However, the Ulster Farmers' Union President Graham Furey insisted that such an independent body would be a waste of taxpayers' money.

Arlene Foster has already said that an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would cost millions to set up and run, and has therefore rejected the idea.

(BMcC)