PPS 14 quashed and reissued
Mr Justice Gillen today effectively ruled that PPS 14 was unlawful because the Department for Regional development did not have the power to make Planning Policy. Environment Minister Arlene Foster today reissued PPS 14 under the DoE.
Environment Minister Arlene Foster today made a Ministerial Statement in the Assembly, under the powers conferred by Article 3 of the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, advising that the Department of the Environment has assumed responsibility for rural planning policy and will therefore take forward work on the ongoing review of draft Planning Policy Statement 14 (PPS 14).
The Ministerial Statement also advises that the Department has, as a short-term interim measure, reissued the policy provisions of Draft PPS 14 ‘Sustainable Development in the Countryside’, pending completion of the policy review process. Furthermore it indicates that these policy provisions should continue to take precedence over existing policies for the countryside and should be accorded substantial weight in the determination of any planning application received after 16 March 2006.
All applications for housing in rural areas will therefore continue to be assessed under PPS 14.
