Alliance Social Development spokesperson, Stewart Dickson MLA, said he is shocked over the repeated delays in introducing this legislation to the Assembly.
He was speaking after the Social Development Minister announced that he would be introducing a revised Regeneration Bill after removing some of the housing provisions that were included in the original legislation.
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Mr Dickson MLA said: "This is not the first time that a major piece of public sector reform has been delayed. For too many issues, it can take months or even years for the DUP and Sinn Fein to finally reach agreement. This transfer of functions was meant to form a key part of the overall reform of local government, which itself stalled and stagnated for several years. This delay will mean that the new Councils will not have some key powers when they assume authority in April 2015.
"We are now into the eighth year of the Assembly; our institutions should have developed enough maturity by now to ensure that major pieces of legislation such as this are debated and agreed upon in a timely manner."
(CD/MH)
