Tight planning rules are shutting Northern Ireland’s farmers out of farm tourism, Ulster Unionist deputy leader Diana Armstrong told the News Letter on October 26.
England relaxed its planning rules for farm tourism and leisure uses a few weeks ago, easing the way for farm shops and cafés, cabins and lodges, wellness retreats and riding schools. Northern Ireland’s system still allows new buildings in the countryside only in limited circumstances, Armstrong said.
“I have lost count of the number of families in Fermanagh and South Tyrone who have told me about a good idea that went nowhere once it reached planning,” the MLA said.
She said planners in England are now told to give real weight to diversification, and called for the same approach in Northern Ireland.
Funding is a second gap. An EU-funded grant scheme that covered the cost of farm diversification in Northern Ireland ended three years ago and has not been replaced.
A rural tourism fund set up by Airbnb covers only the Republic of Ireland, leaving businesses in Fermanagh unable to apply even though the county is marketed as part of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.
Armstrong said she has written to Airbnb asking it to extend the fund, or something similar, to Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
“Farmers here are not short of ideas. What they are short of is a system that lets them get on with it,” she said.
She said visitors come to her constituency for its lakes and food, and that roads, transport, visitor facilities and connectivity need to keep pace with marketing. She plans to raise the issue with several Stormont ministers whose briefs cover planning and rural investment.
