Justification and Amplification (Sections 5.9-5.10)

The Department is committed to facilitating opportunities for economic development and diversification in the countryside while maintaining and, where possible, enhancing the quality of the rural environment for local people and visitors. A pleasant and attractive countryside is central to its economic prosperity and healthy economic activity in rural areas facilitates investment to sustain and enhance the countryside's appeal and meet the needs of the rural community. To assist the achievement of a sustainable rural economy, the Department's general approach is that development in the countryside should benefit economic activity while protecting or enhancing the environment. Farm diversification, the re-use of rural buildings and appropriate redevelopment and expansion proposals for industrial and business purposes offer the greatest scope for sustainable economic development in the countryside. Such proposals may, on occasion, involve the construction of new buildings. However, there is a need, in the interests of rural amenity and wider sustainability objectives, to restrict the level of new building for economic development purposes outside settlements. In general, new buildings for such uses in the open countryside will be strictly controlled, although it is recognised that some major industrial proposals may require a countryside location and that some small-scale economic development projects may be permissible outside villages or smaller rural settlements.