A controversial ban on the building of new homes in rural areas of Northern Ireland which was imposed without public consultation, has been ruled unlawful in the High Court.
The planning restriction, known as Planning Policy Statement 14 (PPS14), was put in place by former direct rule minister Lord Jeff Rooker in March 2006 to a chorus of complaints from Assembly members.
However, the measure was yesterday overturned by Mr Justice Gillen after an appeal by Omagh District Council and five others.
The ruling was hailed by elected representatives who say it has provided new hope for rural communities and farmers who wish to build on their land. However, environmentalists warned of bungalow blight.
The ruling is certain to place the already hard-pressed planning service under even greater pressure. There are currently some 19,000 applications awaiting consideration, but many more will be referred back to the planners having been rejected on the grounds that they were not compliant with PPS14.
It is now up to members of the Stormont Executive to draw up a viable planning policy acceptable to all parties.
South Down DUP Assembly member Jim Wells said tens of thousands of new applications could now be made and he warned: "The planning service will disintegrate. This will break its back."
The Campaign for the Protection of the Countryside said in a statement: "This decision is not one about the merits or otherwise of PPS14 - it is simply a wrecking measure that puts the whole process into limbo.
"The arguments remain the same - the previous situation was unsustainable - economically, socially and environmentally. PPS14 remains a well thought out policy that will allow for those who need to live in the countryside to do so - and allows for farmers to retire in the countryside."
Omagh District Council and other Assembly members greeted the judge's ruling.
Council chairman Bert Wilson said: "This gives us a ray of light. We have been vindicated, and the general public were asking for this." Denying he was in favour of a rural development free-for-all Mr Wilson added: "I have been inundated with calls, many from young farmers who now can't live on their own farm."
Sinn Féin and the SDLP welcomed the High Court decision and criticised PPS14 as an example of arbitrary decision-making by British direct rule ministers. Sinn Féin's Cathal Boylan said: "What the ruling today does is expose the mess that has been created by the arbitrary approach of British direct rule ministers who lurched from one bad policy to the next."
The SDLP's John Dallat hailed the ruling as a great day for rural areas: "The reality is that such a stupid policy could only have been introduced by a direct rule minister flying in here a couple of days a week with no idea of the way we live."
The number of rural planning approvals in the North has soared from 1,790 in 1991 to 9,520 in 2004, and outstrips the equivalent number in Britain.
The Irish Timeswas told by a reliable source that the planning ban was imposed by the Northern Ireland Office in a bid to encourage agreement on the formation of a powersharing Executive at the time.