Today we have written to Minister O’Dowd (DfI), Minister Muir (DAERA), Minister Lyons (DfC), Minister Murphy (DfE), Ms Ward (CEO Newry, Mourne and Down District Council / NMDDC), representatives of Defra’s “SPS Facilities Project” and representatives of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO).
Our letter is informed and guided by two NIAO publications, “Good Practice Guide” and “ Planning Fraud Risks Guide – the latter with the stated aim to “to raise awareness across local government about what planning fraud might look like”.
The purpose of our letter is to reveal and illustrate our discovery of multiple examples of “Fraud Risks/Red Flags” warnings of “what planning fraud might look like” in a Report which was authored by DAERA, on 16th November 2020, for a Defra Inspection Facility near Warrenpoint.
According to DAERA, this report was completed “based on the best available information, to inform the Competent Authority, Newry Mourne and Down District Council, of the potential for a likely significant effect on European sites from the construction and operation of the proposed development, as required by Regulation 43 (1) of the Habitats Regulations.”
Unfortunately, it would appear that the “best available information” did not include the benefits of a site visit – nor, it would seem, the ability to read an online map.
For example, “The site is located within an area of industrial land adjacent to the Newry canal” betrays an alarming denial of the fact that the site is bordered on three sides by a scenic coastal route, open green spaces and protected waters. As for the “adjacent” Newry Canal, that historic waterway is, like the Report, miles away.
On 16/11/20, the same day as the Report was authored, the Council granted “permitted development” to Defra for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Facilities Shed.
We have raised our deep concerns that this huge building is now being constructed, without planning permission, amidst scenes of environmental vandalism on lands owned, leased or occupied by Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WHA), adjacent to highly protected areas of rich and vulnerable habitat, in an Area of Outstanding Beauty, totally out of character in terms of scale, appearance and purpose, near the proposed landing point of the new Narrow Water Bridge.
It is our belief that Defra, with a stated mission “to restore and improve the environment for future generations, leaving it in a better state than it was found” and DAERA, (author of the Report), should, upon examination of the evidence provided in this letter, call for an immediate cessation of work on the Defra site. We also believe that DfI and the Competent Authority, NMDDC (already conducting a live enforcement case on the site for breach of planning conditions by Defra) should move swiftly to ‘call in’ any decision supported by misleading and/or potentially fraudulent information.
The RARE Team
CLANRYE NEWS 