The Earl of Shaftesbury has said he would like to transfer his estate’s ownership of Lough Neagh “into a charity or community trust model, with rights of nature included”.
But Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, said the proposal “may take time”.
It comes as the Lough Neagh Report is due to come before the Stormont Executive again later next week.
Writing on the online platform Substack, the earl said he felt he was “an easy target and a useful excuse for failings in proper governance”, external.
The Shaftesbury Estate owns the bed of Lough Neagh and the earl has previously said he was willing to explore options.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Earl of Shaftesbury has said he would like to transfer his estate’s ownership of Lough Neagh “into a charity or community trust model, with rights of nature included”.But Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, said the proposal “may take time”.It comes as the Lough Neagh Report is due to come before the Stormont Executive again later next week.Writing on the online platform Substack, the earl said he felt he was “an easy target and a useful excuse for failings in proper governance”, external.
The Shaftesbury Estate owns the bed of Lough Neagh and the earl has previously said he was willing to explore options.
Following the blue-green algal crisis of Summer 2023, there have been calls to transfer the Lough to public ownership in Northern Ireland.But in his article, the earl asks "to whom?
".He added there is "currently no entity that is offering to take it or who can guarantee to improve the environmental health of the lough.
"While the Shaftesbury Estate holds the rights to the bed of the Lough, five companies have been granted licences to extract sand for which they pay a royalty to the estate.The earl acknowledged that “unauthorised and therefore completely unregulated and illegal sand extraction” had been taking place for a number of years.He said the estate had made “repeated attempts” to try to stop it.
It is understood that the Lough Neagh Report commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs does not examine ownership of the Lough as part of the immediate solutions required.The Executive discussed the report in its most recent meeting, and minister Andrew Muir has urged ministerial colleagues to approve it at the next meeting.
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