| Culzie | Date: Friday, 2012-11-16, 8:49 PM | Message # 1 |
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| Has anyone any idea why the TUV is opposed to this.
Anger at National Park plan
News Letter
Published on Friday 16 November 2012 08:55
THE row over a proposal to give National Park status to the Glens of Antrim has deepened following a public meeting in Ballycastle.
More than 700 people attended Wednesday night’s event organised by those against the plans.
The meeting went ahead in the absence of SDLP Environment Minister Alex Attwood, who turned down the invitation three days beforehand.
TUV MLA Jim Allister hit out at Mr Attwood for not attending the meeting.
“If local democracy means anything then this destructive proposition should be abandoned by the minister who hadn’t even the courtesy or courage to attend the meeting,” he said.
“Preservation of the countryside does not need the dead hand of even more regulation and control freakery which would emanate from the outside management of a National Park.
“For centuries these lands in north Antrim have been in the hands of the custodians with the most interest in preserving them, namely those who own and farm them. That’s how it must stay.”
Mr Attwood had earlier expressed his desire to create two National Parks, with the Mournes, the Causeway coast, the Antrim Glens and Fermanagh Lakelands identified as possible areas.
He said he had missed the Ballycastle event because he had another meeting that “among other matters, concerned the security situation”.
“I want to meet farming groups, including farmers in the Glens and north Antrim,” he said.
“Every stone needs to be turned over to seek out work opportunities, including rural development that respects the heritage but creates opportunities and does no damage to the farming interest.”
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK without a National Park. The Glens of Antrim area is home to the Glens, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the Giant’s Causeway.
Friends of the Earth campaigner Declan Allson said he was not opposed to a National Park as long as local people were involved in the decision-making process.
“We wouldn’t be opposed to a National Park in theory, as long as the local people were involved and there was a sustainable model for preservation,” he said.
“If Mr Attwood says there will be no detrimental effects to the community, and there is agreement from the people in the community, then there is nothing to worry about. However, I would like to know exactly what kind of National Park he does propose.”
Green Party leader Steven Agnew MLA defended plans for National Parks saying they were an essential part of protecting Northern Ireland’s valuable natural heritage.
“If we want people to come to Northern Ireland we have to ask what it is that we have to attract people here, and it is clear that our clean, green, land is our greatest asset,” he said. “National Parks will bring economic advantages combined with greater environmental protection and it is time for us to advance this issue in the Assembly.”
At the meeting on Wednesday, Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) members passed the following resolution: “The North Antrim Group of the UFU call for the immediate abolition of the proposal to designate any part of the Causeway Coast and Glens as a National Park.”
UFU president Harry Sinclair said: “Once again a very clear message has been sent to Environment Minister Alex Attwood that farmers and others do not want and will not support a National Park in their area.”
Among the seven speakers in attendance was local farmer Victor Chesnutt, who said he would like to see money intended for the National Park being used in a more meaningful way.
“I am not against tourism, but money could be used more effectively in the area, promoting tourism and the infrastructure,” he said.
“We have already seen what the environmental measures brought in over the last 10 years have done. These people come with good intentions but they don’t understand the countryside which we live, breathe and develop.”
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| Culzie | Date: Friday, 2012-11-23, 10:55 PM | Message # 2 |
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Generalissimo
Group: Administrators
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| Strange? Alec Attwood was on The View last night extolling the virtues of a National Park and saying that NI was the only part of the UK which hadn't got a National Park. Yet we have unionists saying they don't want a National Park. Its a funny old world. 
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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