Written Answers to Questions - Northern Ireland Assembly

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Friday 20 July 2012 Written Answers NO BILL PURPOSE 7. The Climate Change Bill 8. The Environmental Better Regulation Bill 9. Buses (Licensing of Operators) Bill: 10. Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill No 2 To introduce statutory targets for greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Ireland. Introduction: May 2014 Royal Assent: January 2015 To reduce the environmental regulatory burden on business and enhance protection of the environment. Introduction: January 2014 Royal Assent: May 2015 To overhaul the bus licensing regime. To be introduced during 2013; Royal Assent during 2014. To introduce mutual recognition of penalty points for motoring offences between Northern Ireland and Ireland. To be introduced during 2013; Royal Assent during 2014 Fines Levied in Environmental Pollution Cases and Planning Cases Mr Gardiner asked the Minister of the Environment to detail the total value of fines levied in (i) environmental pollution cases; and (ii) planning cases in each of the last five years. (AQW 10876/11-15) Mr Attwood: In carrying out its statutory functions, the Department of the Environment has obligations to regulate and monitor potentially damaging activities, respond to breaches of environmental legislation and investigate suspected environmental crime. Table A below details the total value of fines levied in environmental pollution cases in each of the past 5 years. TABLE A year Total value of fines 2007 £53,400 2008 £259,460 2009 £303,900 2010 £114,650 2011 £151,273 2012 (To date) £71,800 Total £954,483 DOE is also responsible for planning control in Northern Ireland. Prosecutions are an important part of any enforcement system and the Department will proceed to court following legal advice. The scale of penalties for breaches of planning control is set out in legislation. The imposition of penalties and sentences is a matter for the courts. It is important to note that the DOE Planning IT system was upgraded in March 2009. Only live case information from 1 April 2009 was backdated into the upgraded system. Prior to 1 April 2009, data inputted into the database was considered to be incomplete and unreliable, as such, data is only available from this period. WA 508
Friday 20 July 2012 Written Answers Based on Court information extracted from DOE Planning IT data on 2 May 2012, the total value of fines levied by the courts in respect of planning enforcement cases over the last three business years amounted to £391,435. Table B below details the total value of fines levied by the courts in respect of planning enforcement cases over each of the last three business years. TABLE B Business year 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 Total Fines levied by the courts £125,000 £132,635 £133,800 £391,435 Prosecutions often take a considerable time to work their way through the court process. Therefore, while the convictions in the tables above are listed against the year in which the case was heard in court, the offences to which each case refers will almost invariably have occurred some time before (typically 12-18 months previously). Obelisk in Portadown Town Plaza Mrs D Kelly asked the Minister of the Environment (i) whether planning permission was granted to erect an obelisk in Portadown town plaza; (ii) what consultation was carried out and when; and (iii) whether an Equality Impact Assessment was carried out. (AQW 10999/11-15) Mr Attwood: (i) An application for planning permission to erect a 1.75metres high monument to commemorate the Centenary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant was granted full planning approval on 21st March 2012. The monument is sited in front of St Mark’s Church, Portadown. (ii) The application was presented to Craigavon Borough Council on 31st January 2012 as part of the streamlined procedure. It was advertised in the three local papers on 10th February 2012 and 83 adjacent properties were notified of this proposal on 7th February 2012. No objections were received as part of this consultation process. NIEA – Historic Buildings Unit and DRD Roads Service were consulted on 6th February 2012. Both replied with no objections to the proposal. (iii) In it role as decision maker on planning applications, the Department has a statutory duty, under Section 75 (2) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group. However, it is not necessary to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment for each individual planning application. An assessment against Section 75 was included during the processing of the application as it is a material consideration and this is recorded on the file. That said the issue of memorials is a sensitive and difficult one. I will consider further how these matters should be managed including legal and equality issues. Ofcom Mr Flanagan asked the Minister of the Environment for his assessment of the average length of time it takes Ofcom to respond, as a consultee, to a planning application. (AQW 11010/11-15) Mr Attwood: The median number of working days between an Ofcom consultation being sent and the Department receiving a response during the 2011/12 business year is 16 working days. The median has been used as the measure of “average” as this is standard planning reporting practice. The Department holds Service Level Agreements with other agencies such as DRD Roads Service. The target timeframe for Roads Service to respond to 70% of planning consultations is 15 working days. Given that Ofcom are responding to planning consultations in a similar timeframe in the absence of any WA 509
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Written Answers to Questions - Northern Ireland Assembly

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