Letter: Stormont MLAs when in office over 25 years have proven themselves incapable of making the big decisions on the environment - I hope that now changes

'Northern Ireland's environment is unlikely to benefit from higher EU standards because the country already flouts the existing rules, leaving it in a "grossly degraded" state' (Guardian, January 21).

The article asserts governance failures have caused grave environmental damage in the region saying “The crisis at Lough Neagh is symptomatic of how bad things are across the north”.

This failure is not due to the recent lack of a Stormont executive it is due to the continued failure of the executive when in office to address long term environmental damage and biodiversity loss. The executive when in office over 25 years has proven incapable of making the big important decisions. Councils also contribute to the governance failures with their failure to enforce legislation with regards protected areas e.g. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Let's hope things change now we have an executive in place and even better an effective opposition to hold the executive to account.

The report also specifically mentions the need for an independent environmental protection agency and the fact that the civil service has not published an environmental strategy or statement of principles.

With other key high spending departments expected to take up most of the executive's time eg health ,infrastructure and education, let's hope our precious environment gets a look in for some meaningful action and reform.

Johnny Andrews, Bangor, former economy spokesman, NI Conservatives