AQW 27365/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 14/12/2021
Answered On Date: 10/01/2022
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs whether the Bateman Principle is part of any policy decision making or legislative development in his Department.

Answer:

Previous Ministers concluded that the current Northern Ireland policy on coastal management, known as the Bateman Formula from 1967, is now outdated. In 2015, a Coastal Forum was established and co-chaired by the then Minister for Regional Development and the Minister of the Environment to discuss coastal issues and to seek to adopt a more strategic approach to coastal change management.

I am committed to continuing with a joint approach between my Department, DfI, the coastal councils and the National Trust. A comprehensive Work Programme has been developed by the Coastal Forum Working Group and has been agreed by myself and Minister Mallon. We also recently requested that officials organise a Coastal Policy workshop to initiate policy development that will eventually replace the Bateman approach, which is essentially a coastal protection policy and is unsustainable in the long term.