Earl of Shaftesbury would like to transfer Lough Neagh ownership

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.

Nicholas Ashley-Cooper said the Estate’s Lough Neagh Ltd. company “has no control” over the water in the Lough and the nutrients that go into it.

He added that “collective action” was needed to find solutions to the issues facing the lough.

The earl describes the current situation of Lough Neagh as “deeply upsetting” and added that a charity or community trust model with rights of nature included as possibly “the best way” to support the Lough’s long-term future.

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.