Mark H Durkan accused over Belfast policy blocking John Lewis at Sprucefield

Environment Minister Mark Durkan is accused of implementing a planning policy without authority

A planning policy that ended any prospect of a John Lewis store at Sprucefield was implemented "without authority", a court has been told.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan allegedly adopted the Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP) without telling executive colleagues.

His decision is being challenged in judicial review proceedings taken by the Finance Minister Arlene Foster.

BMAP identifies planning zones for 40% of the Northern Ireland population.

It covers retail, residential or commercial development not only in Belfast, but outlying areas such as Carrickfergus, Lisburn, Newtownabbey and north Down.

In January 2012, then environment minister Alex Attwood announced the retailing element of the plan.

This included a policy of restricting future development at Sprucefield to bulky goods such as furniture and electrical items, effectively blocking the John Lewis plan.

By October 2013, Mr Durkan was the environment minister and allegedly produced a memo asking the executive to "note" that BMAP had passed all statutory requirements and that he intended to adopt it.

Arlene Foster, the then-enterprise minister, wrote to the first and deputy first ministers asking them to call the matter to the executive as it was "controversial and cross-cutting."

The urgency was taken out of the situation when the developer withdrew the John Lewis planning application.

The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan covers not just Belfast but outlying areas such as Carrickfergus, Lisburn, Newtownabbey and North Down

David Schofield QC told Belfast High Court that the language of the memo showed that the minister was "reluctant to seek agreement for the substance of the plan".

The QC said that following delivery of the memo, the attorney general wrote to Mr Durkan on the issue of executive approval.

Mr Durkan allegedly then produced a new version of the memo this time seeking agreement from his executive colleagues.

DUP ministers Simon Hamilton and Edwin Poots wrote to Mr Durkan expressing their opposition to the Sprucefield element of BMAP.

In March 2014, Mr Durkan allegedly produced a third version of his memo that said he could not make ad hoc adjustments to BMAP.

Mr Schofield said this was part of a pattern of intransigence which showed Mr Durkan was "utterly unwilling to change the plan to address other minister's concerns".

He added that under Stormont's ministerial code such a controversial matter could only be decided by the executive as a whole.

The hearing continues.