Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has given planning permission to the new security fence at Short Brothers' 401W factory in Newtownards; to how many adjoining landowners notices of the planning application were served; and what provision he intends to make for access from Church street court to Half Acre lane to Corry street in Newtownards.
§ Mr. NeedhamPlanning permission was granted to Shorts plc in 1981 for, among other things, fencing at its Newtownards factory. This was before the introduction of the non-statutory neighbour notification scheme. The firm indicated to the DOE(NI) recently that it proposed to erect additional fencing and that a new planning application would be submitted. Both the new and original proposals showed a fence at either end of Forde street thus closing it off to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. All rights-of-way through Forde street were extinguished by the NI Housing Executive in 1982 and the DOE(NI) has no plans to provide alternative access from Church street court.