District loses out on NIW £19.5m sewage infrastructure boost

District loses out on NIW £19.5m sewage infrastructure boost

18 December 2024

NOT a single penny of a £19.5m cash boost to connect 2,300 new properties to storm water and sewerage connections in the province will be spent in Newry, Mourne and Down.

The funding is being made available by the Department for Infrastructure to Northern Ireland Water and will be spent in five council areas including Belfast City, Derry City and Strabane, Antrim and Newtownabbey, Lisburn and Castlereagh and Mid Ulster.

News of the money for the five council areas comes after recent appeal to allow NI Water to borrow money to help fix the province’s creaking sewerage network when it emerged that almost 200 new private housing developments across the Newry, Mourne and Down Council area have not been formally adopted by the DfI and NI Water.

When new developments are adopted, the government department and utility company automatically become responsible for all roads, wastewater and other infrastructure issues, ensuring homeowners do not have to pick up the tab when things go wrong.

New data published by the DfI revealed that province-wide, almost 2,000 new developments remain unadopted with the 170 in Newry, Mourne and Down the third highest out of Northern Ireland’s 11 councils.

A report published in 2012 estimated that it would cost £300m to bring all unadopted roads in Northern Ireland up to adoptable standard and up to £100m to allow for adoption of all unadopted sewerage and wastewater schemes.

In the Newry, Mourne and Down Council area, there are nine wastewater treatment works which do not have any available capacity, with a further nine treatment networks already experiencing capacity issues, which may mean that planning permission could be denied in parts of these areas in the future. 

South Down MLA Andy McMurray said while the additional cash is welcome, it will “barely scratch the surface” of the pressures NI Water faces.

He said the latest cash injection as a result of the so-called October monitoring round is “nowhere near enough” to address the capital funding shortfall of £266m that NI Water is facing this year.

Mr McMurray says the extra cash won’t rectify the vast majority of issues NI Water is facing, nor will it resolve the severe damage that our over-stretched water infrastructure is causing to the housing sector, economy and environment.

“While five council areas will see housing developments progress, six others with urgent needs remain unaddressed,” he continued.

“In Newry, Mourne and Down, nine wastewater treatment works are at capacity, with another nine close to it. The DfI Minister continues to flog developer contributions as the answer but, in reality, this will only benefit high-end properties, driving up housing costs and creating a two-tier system.”

Mr McMurray said the local construction sector is feeling the squeeze and it is well known that NI Water’s funding pressures are also having a detrimental impact on the environment.

Announcing the additional £19.5m, DfI Minister John O’Dowd said he and his Executive colleagues are committed to playing their part in addressing the challenges of housing supply.

He said the additional £19.5m investment is good news for communities and businesses across Antrim, Derry and Tyrone and thanked NI Water for working in a “constructive and positive manner to deliver this essential infrastructure”.

Mr O’Dowd said he will continue to make the case for additional funding for essential public services to enable the upgrade and modernisation of vital infrastructure.” 

NI Water has welcomed the additional funding and said it has directed this to projects that will have a “direct and meaningful impact” by helping to facilitate additional housing development. 

“The schemes were selected primarily around those that were fully developed and contractually ready to be allocated and if funded would have the ability to ease development constraints,” said a spokeswoman.

“The geographical location of the schemes did not factor into this assessment. The main factor was the ability to accelerate a scheme that was ready for delivery and could therefore benefit from the £19.5m made available in November.”

The spokeswoman added: “NI Water is working with the Department for Infrastructure on releasing development across the province and this includes key hub towns in the Newry Mourne and Down Council area such as Newry.”