The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has written to DAERA to comment on the suitability of adopting the Northern Ireland Environment Strategy as the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP).
OEP Chair Dame Glenys Stacey said: “We consider the current Environmental Strategy adequate and appropriate as the basis for Northern Ireland’s first EIP.
“The Strategy covers a breadth of environmental issues across its six strategic environmental outcomes. It is a welcome step towards sustained and long-term action to improve the environment.
“However, we recognise that Northern Ireland faces some difficult challenges, and with that in mind, we outline ways in which we think the Strategy could be improved and so become the basis of a yet better EIP for Northern Ireland.”
Our letter, which can be found by clicking on the button on the top right of this page, sets out our future approach to scrutiny of the EIP and provides detail on where the EIP can be strengthened.
Adoption of the EIP would start the requirement for DAERA to report on the implementation on the EIP annually and thereby commence the OEP’s statutory monitoring and reporting on progress of that plan.
You can read the letter by clicking on the blue 'download report' button on this page.
