{"id":3153,"date":"2011-09-16T17:55:30","date_gmt":"2011-09-16T17:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=3153"},"modified":"2011-09-27T16:51:46","modified_gmt":"2011-09-27T16:51:46","slug":"ni-national-park-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=3153","title":{"rendered":"NI national park debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"yui_3_2_0_1_1316076858361182\"><strong id=\"yui_3_2_0_1_1316076858361176\"><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Northern Ireland\u2019s Environment Minister Alex Attwood has called for a balanced debate and early progress on designating a number of Special National Parks in the Province.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The call came as he launched a consultation on the required legislation and a process of selecting potential candidate areas for designation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Insisted Attwood: \u201cIn my view Special National Parks would be a boost for Northern Ireland. We are fortunate in having not one, two or three but a number of areas that might meet the proposed criteria for such areas of national importance.\u00a0 Park status would not only serve to address and enhance their landscape and natural beauty needs, but also deliver long-term benefits through a sustained government commitment.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that the model for these new designations would be different from the National Parks in England and Wales and also \u2018different again\u2019 from the model in Scotland. \u2018But the argument that Northern Ireland should have Special National Parks, with even better management of park areas, with the potential of positive development, new jobs and critically, respect for the local people and community \u2013 is one I believe in and will argue for.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Attwood explained that the administration would set up a panel of experts to identify candidates for possible designation as Special National Parks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u2018This is not a done deal. Candidates may drop out or put designation on the long finger or one might emerge a front runner but I want a gear change on the issue, balanced debate and early progress. It will be helpful if we have an open, respectful, informed and moderate debate. It is not a time for fixed positions \u2013 it is a time for a new debate.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Note:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A White Paper on Enabling Legislation for National Parks was published on 24 March, prior to the Assembly elections.\u00a0 This latest consultation document includes the White Paper as an appendix for ease of reference.\u00a0 The original consultation period has been extended and will now finish on 31 October 2011.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">For consultation details see<\/span>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doeni.gov.uk\/index\/protect_the_environment\/natural_environment\/national_parks.htm\" target=\"_blank\">LINK<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Northern Ireland Government News<\/span>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.northernireland.gov.uk\/news-doe-300811-attwood-calls-for\" target=\"_blank\">LINK <\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Search Planning Portal<\/span>: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.planningportal.gov.uk\/general\/news\/stories\/2011\/sep11\/010911\/010911_4\" target=\"_blank\">LINK <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Ireland\u2019s Environment Minister Alex Attwood has called for a balanced debate and early progress on designating a number of Special National Parks in the Province. &nbsp; The call came as he launched a consultation on the required legislation and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=3153\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3155,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3153\/revisions\/3155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}