Sinn Fein minister accused of running 'two-tier' planning system over party's illegal billboard

The infrastructure committee chairman Peter Martin told MLAs about the rigmarole through which a nursery was recently put over a tiny change to its building, and contrasted this with the fact the Sinn Fein billboard was left in place “without planning permission” for years.

He suggested members of the public would be asking themselves why they should bother to get planning permission for things.

Minister Liz Kimmins denied operating a “two-tier” system, and suggested that the public did not want MLAs to focus on the issue of the billboard.

The exchanges occurred during a meeting of the infrastructure committee today.

The billboard in question was found at Newry’s Egyptian Arch, a railway bridge in the Co Down town, but Ms Kimmins said today it has since been removed.

As the News Letter has previously reported, this billboard bore Sinn Fein branding and Ms Kimmins’ infrastructure department (which is responsible for planning enforcement) had written to Ms Kimmins’ own Sinn Fein office manager to seek its removal – but Ms Kimmins had said it was not a Sinn Fein billboard.

DUP MLA Mr Martin told her today: “There is clearly a feeling among some constituents and members of this committee that somehow, for two years, your party erected a billboard, and nobody took it down, and it sat there.

"In fact, it actually was there until this committee started to look into it.

"And then suddenly it changed. And then suddenly the advertising came off.”

He said: “Other people in Northern Ireland would look at that and go: well, why can't I do stuff without planning permission?

"Do you see the two-tierness of that?”

Ms Kimmins replied: “I think there's a discussion here on one single item. Let's have the discussion across the board, because I think there are numerous examples everywhere.

"I think that there is scope to look at how we deal with things like this going forward in terms of regulation and how that is addressed.

"What I am saying is the issue we are talking about is in the past, it has been dealt with.

"As far as I'm concerned, it has concluded.”

Mr Martin said a women’s group in his own constituency of North Down had been in touch with him about the “saga”.

The group had complained that a nursery in the area had wanted to remove the grilles from outside some of its windows, “they needed to get planning permission for it and elevation drawings, just to take the grilles off, and that in itself cost more than the work of taking those grilles off”.

There will be many other people in Northern Ireland “who are playing by the rules,” he added.

His DUP North Down colleague Stephen Dunne also spoke on the same theme, saying it appears to many “that is one rule for me, and another for thee”.

"I don't accept the point that it's one rule for me and one rule for anybody else,” she replied.

Mr Dunne asked: “The integrity of the planning system has been compromised – do you accept that?”

"Planning is dealt with through the council, and that's a matter for council,” she said, adding: “I mean, we could talk about this all day.

"I don't think this is what people out there want to see us talking about, one poster.”