The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has pushed back the deadline for responses to its discussion paper on Northern Ireland's first ever Environment Strategy, giving readers more time to send in feedback.
Originally the response deadline was set to close on 23 December 2019, but this has now been pushed back to 5 February 2020.
Announcing the extension, Director of Regulatory and Natural Resources Policy, Dave Foster, has said that the department had received more than 800 responses so far: "We have been heartened by the level of engagement of both individuals and organisations with this very important issue. Detailed responses are coming in on a daily basis so given the considerable level of interest, we wanted to extend the public discussion period to ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity to take part."
He added: "We have received responses from people of all ages and we know that young people in particular are telling us how strongly they feel about the environment. To add further depth to our level of engagement with young people, we have organised a dedicated event to ensure their voices are heard and their ideas contribute to our plan to protect and enhance the environment for both this and future generations."
DAERA will publish a summary of the findings in spring 2020, before drafting the 'Environment Strategy for Northern Ireland'. This Strategy is intended to be high level and will require endorsement from a future Minister and Executive.
