This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7214658.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Causeway centre proposal rejected | Causeway centre proposal rejected |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Environment Minister Arlene Foster has refused an application for a privately funded visitors' centre at the Giant's Causeway. | |
| Mrs Foster told the NI assembly that she saw some merits in a proposal by developer Seymour Sweeney but had to turn it down on planning grounds. | |
| Last September, the DUP minister said she was "minded" to approve the plans. | |
| But on Tuesday she said the proposal would have an "adverse impact on the World Heritage Site". | |
| "I believe it could adversely affect the character of the area," she said. | |
| "There are serious doubts that the proposed development would adequately integrate into the landscape and it would add to the spread of development at this sensitive location." | "There are serious doubts that the proposed development would adequately integrate into the landscape and it would add to the spread of development at this sensitive location." |
| The Causeway attracts nearly 500,000 visitors a year. | The Causeway attracts nearly 500,000 visitors a year. |
| The previous visitors' centre on the site burned down in April 2000. | The previous visitors' centre on the site burned down in April 2000. |
| Renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt - resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago - it is the only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. | Renowned for its polygonal columns of layered basalt - resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago - it is the only World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. |