South and East Belfast Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

MEETING WITH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER "VERY CONSTRUCTIVE"

Published: 12 January, 2009

South Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey has described as "very constructive" today's meeting with Environment Minister Sammy Wilson. Top of the agenda at the meeting was the issue of HMO's and planning enforcement.


Speaking after the meeting, South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey said,

"This afternoon's meeting with the Environment Minister Sammy Wilson was very constructive.


"High on the agenda of today's meeting was the issue of HMO's and the enforcement of planning decisions. These are issues that I had discussed with individual residents and residents groups previous to this meeting.


"In relation to the HMO issue I raised concerns that the 10% and 30% caps on HMO development, announced by the Minister in December, were of little use unless action was taken to reduce the number of HMO's in areas which are already well above these limits. In addition to this there is a very real concern within the community that many developers are now turning buildings which would have formally been developed as HMO's, into apartments in order to get around planning regulations and restrictions on such developments. This is merely changing the name of the problem without tackling the issues associated with the proliferation of HMO's, and now apartments, in local communities.


He concluded,

"I was pleased that the Minister voiced his own concerns on this issue and has undertaken to look at these problems in more detail. I look forward to working with him in the future. However, I have said all along that a cross-departmental approach is required if we are to have any real success in tackling these problems. To this end I was disappointed to learn that the Department of Social Development, the Department tasked with registering HMO's, have yet to contact the Department of Environment to ensure that a joined up approach in being taken in relation to these problems".

CRÍOCH