#waringstown

Environment Minister Alex Atwood has told the BBC he wants a "full and exhaustive explanation" into how a planning file into a controversial development has gone missing from his department.

However, for many residents of Waringstown in County Down the minister's actions are too little too late.

The site of an early Christian rath or homestead located in a commanding position in the village survived the elements for centuries, but not the mistakes of the Department of the Environment's planners.

The rath was destroyed during recent house-building in the village after planners failed to consult their colleagues in the environment and heritage wing of the DoE.

Later, when they did consult, the planners failed to pass on certain conditions which were supposed to be attached to the developer's permission to build.