Various options surrounding the creation of a new independent environmental protection agency in NI have been set out in a consultation document by Environment Minister Mark H Durkan, which opened for responses last week.

The main reason for opening the debate surrounds the restructuring of Government departments in NI next year. Some stakeholders have expressed concerns that the Department of the Environment (DOE) will be fragmented and relegated in importance when a number of functions join with DARD to form the new Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

Minister Durkan has said that he shares some of these concerns.

He has also been an advocate of an independent environmental protection agency in NI for some time.

He claims that an independent body could protect the environment more effectively. “They (department staff) could do even better if they were freed from the constraints of departmental structures,” the minister said.

Much of the consultation focuses on the work of the NI Environment Agency (NIEA), currently an executive agency within DOE and due to transfer into DAERA next year.

The NIEA role is generally to regulate and enforce the environmental standards set by DOE or DAERA.

The first option put forward is to leave the NIEA as an executive agency, except within DAERA, not DOE. This would be the cheapest alternative, but according to the consultation there is a risk that NIEA will not be independent of political influence. The second option is to move NIEA into a non-departmental public body, which would give it a certain degree of independence from DAERA. The next option takes this a step further by combining all environment related functions across government departments into a new independent body.

The final option puts only the regulatory functions of NIEA into a new non-departmental public body.

The consultation closes on 25 January 2016.