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Policy Framework

AGRICULTURE FORESTRY AND FISHING

Strategic Plan Framework

This part of the Written Statement sets out the Strategic Plan Framework comprising allocations, designations, and policies relating to the whole District, which complement, and are in reference to, the Regional Policy Context.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the predominant land use within the District and employed 3135 people on 1685 holdings in 2001. Approximately 70% of farms in the District are involved in cattle and sheep farming. Dairy farming is also important with 285 holdings. The District currently has one of the lowest number of farms producing cereals, general crops or involved in horticulture in Northern Ireland occupying only 4% of the total holdings, whereas it has the highest number of mixed farms.

Although there are no major agri-businesses within the District, there are a number of small businesses employing up to 10 people. These range from light agricultural engineering to food processing.

Farm size within the District tends to be small with 55% of farms classed as very small by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD (NI)) under European standards and only 1% described as large.

In common with the rest of Northern Ireland, farm incomes in the District are falling in real terms, leading to an increased demand for alternative employment on and off the farm. The Department accepts the need for farmers to diversify into non-agricultural activities in the context of prevailing planning policy to supplement their farming income and DARD (NI) has a range of grant assistance to support this process.

Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) are areas where the natural characteristics, including geology, altitude and climate, make it difficult for farmers to compete. However, within these areas, agriculture is the main factor shaping and maintaining valuable landscapes and habitats. Support is paid to farmers in LFAs so that society can continue to enjoy these benefits. LFAs are divided into Disadvantaged and Severely Disadvantaged Areas. 64% of farms in the District fall within LFAs and 27% are categorized as Severely Disadvantaged Areas.

Forestry

Forestry operations within the District are carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Forest Service. Approximately 975 hectares are publicly managed woodland.

Forest Service also assists in the planting and management of privately owned woodlands through the payment of grants.

A review of forest policy in Northern Ireland and the preparation of an updated long-term strategic vision for forestry based on the principles of sustainability is presently underway.

A Community Woodland has been established at Drumlamph by the Woodland Trust in partnership with local communities as part of the “Woods on Your Doorstep” project which began in 1996 with a grant from the Millennium Commission.

Community woodlands are intended to mark the millennium and will provide a source of informal recreation, beauty, tranquillity, and quiet enjoyment for local people. The sites will also increase people’s awareness of woodland, contribute to woodland biodiversity and increase the area of new native woodland. The Woodland Trust provides and maintains paths, gates and similar facilities for public access.

Fishing

Lough Neagh supports a substantial fishery, mainly for eels.

The majority of the fishing rights to most rivers in the District are owned by The Honourable the Irish Society, based at Cutts House, Coleraine. These rights are sub leased to a number of angling clubs in the area and most recreational game angling takes place on waters controlled by these clubs, in particular the Moyola and Clady Rivers, and specific stretches of the Lower Bann. These rivers all sustain good runs of salmon and trout and are attractive to visiting anglers.

Lough Beg and the River Bann contain good coarse fish stocks, mainly pike, roach and bream which attract significant angling tourists to the area.

Aquaculture within the District is limited to a small number of rainbow trout farms, which supply fish either directly to the wholesale market or for restocking angling waters. The Moyola angling club operates a salmon hatchery near Draperstown to enhance juvenile stocks in the river.

REGIONAL POLICY CONTEXT

The Regional Development Strategy seeks to maintain a working countryside with a strong mixed-use rural economy. It also seeks to create and sustain an attractive and unique rural environment in the interests of the rural community and the Region as a whole.

The Rural Strategy contains current regional planning policies for the protection of the best and most versatile agricultural land, agricultural and forestry development, agricultural diversification and community woodlands.