Declassified Files: Stormont subsidised peat extraction, then tried to stop it

One arm of government was subsidising the environmentally damaging extraction of peat from sensitive bog lands at a time when another arm of government wanted to protect those sites, declassified documents reveal.
Stormont incentivised companies to damage some of Northern Ireland's most sensitive landscapeStormont incentivised companies to damage some of Northern Ireland's most sensitive landscape
Stormont incentivised companies to damage some of Northern Ireland's most sensitive landscape

The practice damaged bogs which help to prevent flooding by retaining water which would otherwise rush off hillsides.

In a memo which is undated but appears to have been from 1986, John Phillips, director of conservation service in Stormont’s Department of the Environment, said: “There is no doubt that we are statutorily bound to declare any peatlands which come up to the required scientific criteria as ASSIs.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said that a scientific survey recommended that seven peat bogs should be given protection by the department. However, two of those were owned by companies which were hoping to extract and sell the peat.

Mr Phillips highlighted that the commercial potential of peat extraction “has been the subject of LEDU [Stormont’s business promotion agency] promotion and grant” and that the two companies concerned “may have received encouragement from LEDU”.

He said that “our interest in these areas will be unwelcome from the Department for Economic Development standpoint”.

However, Mr Phillips said that “I think we can defend out position because of our statutory duties and particularly because the areas we wish to designate form a very small proportion of the peatlands in Northern Ireland...”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to the companies who had been encouraged by government to extract peat from the sensitive sites, the civil servant said that there was “a very considerable lobby of public opinion which will make itself heard should we not proceed”.

In another memo from AHM Sinclair in the Minerals Branch, he admitted the environment would be damaged by extracting peat, but said: “Commercial production has expanded rapidly ... the industry is now organised and is presenting itself as a new growth industry ... LEDU is grant-aiding any development over 200 acres.”

He went on to say: “Conservation evidence against peat workings, especially the effects on wildlife in any particular area and on river ecosystems appears tenuous but given the scale of development envisaged by the industry there can be little doubt that environmental damage will result.”

Another memo from DS Donaldson said that “the payment of LEDU grants has clearly been an important factor in the development of the industry to date”.

Related topics: