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Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
  Orange Standard

Maintaining Life In The Countryside

Article 2 ~ May 2006

Housing in the countryside - what has it got to do with the Orange Order, the reader may say. Quite a lot actually. A high proportion of the Orange Order's membership lives in rural Northern Ireland, and they are rightly concerned about the implications of the Government clampdown on new housing applications.

The Government has warned that it will only be in exceptional cases that new housing will be allowed in the countryside. That makes it imperative that Orangemen and their families, affected by the new law, have their rights protected - along with the rights of all other sections of the population affected by the new laws.

Orangemen, as responsible citizens, will not quarrel with the need to restrict new housing in the Ulster countryside.

The figures released by the Government show that the most recent applications for new houses amounted to 12,000, which is three times the total for the whole of England, Scotland and Wales.

That's an amazing statistic, and it underlines the fact that the magnificent and beautiful Ulster rural areas are greatly desired by those wanting to build.

A large proportion of those seeking new houses and bungalows are undoubtedly city folk seeking a second home in the countryside. They either commute each day to Belfast and other urban areas, with little real contact with the rural community, or they use the rural second home for weekend visits or during the summer months.

A clampdown on this type of housing application is justifiable and understandable. But much of the housing in the rural areas is that sought be farmers, their sons and daughters, or people engaged in rural industries and pursuits.

There are to be exceptions in the new legislation for 'deserving cases', so the need is to ensure that people with firm roots in the countryside and who are the real backbone of rural Ulster are treated with fairness and common-sense.

These people do not want to be 'guided' into living in cities and towns. They want to remain in the countryside, where, in many cases, their ancestors have tilled the land for centuries.

A strong vibrant rural community is a must for Northern Ireland. It already exists, and is one of the reasons why the Ulster countryside is a vibrant and thriving thing, completely the opposite to what it is in much of Britain.

There, the huge exodus from the land, the massive increase in suburbia and the neglect of rural England, has led to the loss of parish churches, schools, shops, post offices and police houses in many places.

Here there is still a strong and active rural population, a countryside of fine farms and fine people, and villages which are full of activity, not that far from the nearest large town.

The battle is on to retain the Northern Ireland rural population and to prevent an incessant drift to the urban areas which would not be good for the Province or its people.

The Orange Order, which has tens of thousands of members in rural Ulster, will be at the forefront of the campaign to save rural Northern Ireland and its marvellous countryside.

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