RSUA gives evidence on impact of wastewater capacity restraints

30 October 2024

On 23 October, RSUA Director Ciaran Fox gave evidence to the Infrastructure Committee at Stormont on the impact of the NI Water wastewater capacity restraints. Also on the panel were Mark Spence, Construction Employers’ Federation Chief Executive, Joan McCoy from White Ink Architects and Mark Todd from Mark Todd Architects.

The RSUA submitted a briefing paper in advance of the session, with key points that included:

• The experience of architects in relation to wastewater capacity is a postcode lottery
• Bureaucracy is preventing reasonable solutions
• Architects are finding it difficult to win work at home and therefore focusing efforts elsewhere
• The wastewater connection problem is contributing to dereliction in town and city centres
• The processes brought in by NI Water due to the wastewater capacity problem are resulting in considerable direct costs and delays
• RSUA seeks to deliver a built environment which is in harmony with the natural environment and expressed concern that nature-based solutions are being rejected and hard engineering solutions required.

You can read the full briefing paper here.

RSUA sought feedback and examples from members in advance of the meeting. Many of these specific projects were referenced in the evidence session.

RSUA called for an immediate independent analysis of all options for management and funding of NI water, for solutions that will create equality of opportunity for all NI’s citizens and bring an end to the current sewage connection postcode lottery for development, for transparency in allocation of infrastructure priorities and decision making, and for an immediate reduction in the recent levels of costly bureaucracy applied even to the smallest developments.

The recording of the session can be viewed here. The Infrastructure Committee Evidence session starts at 00:22:30.

You can read the BBC’s article on the meeting here.