Debate contribution: Waste Water Infrastructure: East Belfast

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 11 February 2025.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

11 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Waste Water Infrastructure: East Belfast

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4793929

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

First, I thank Mr McReynolds for securing the debate, which has been helpful in highlighting the importance of waste water infrastructure to our society. It strikes me that we do not always realise, until there is an issue, how critical it is, and that is across the board, so I really appreciate the opportunity to respond to the debate. I have listened intently to Members' comments and the issues that they have raised, and I have heard their concerns, particularly about waste water infrastructure in East Belfast and the need for further investment and improvements. As a former member of the Infrastructure Committee, I have highlighted the issues as they relate to my constituency in particular. Even in my short time in post, I have met — just yesterday — the chair and chief executive of NI Water to discuss these very issues, because I recognise the seriousness of the problem that we are dealing with. I look forward to working with NI Water. I acknowledge the significant financial challenges that NI Water operates under. It is important to emphasise, however, that it must work within the budget, and that requires prioritisation. That is not to approach issues with the blanket response that finances are always to blame. I am an eternal optimist, so I believe that there are lots of things that we can and should look at to find solutions. My Department, like others, has been operating in a difficult financial environment due to 14 years of the British Government's chronic underfunding and austerity. We all recognise that there is a need for additional funding, and, with my Executive colleagues, I will continue to make that case.

The situation is creating significant challenges for our ability to make improvements to waste water infrastructure, deliver housing growth, support economic development and improve water quality at the pace that we all would like to see.

It should be noted, however, that my Department fully funded NI Water for the first three years of the price control period. In fact, it provided almost £93 million of additional capital funding, which is over and above the funding level that the Utility Regulator recommended for the same period. It is useful also to note that the housebuilding industry itself has advised that housebuilding is at the highest level that it has been at in 15 years. Although I recognise that we have so much work to do, it is important to mention that point. Improving our waste water infrastructure will be a huge exercise, costing billions and taking decades to achieve, but I will continue to build on the previous Minister's three-pronged approach. That will include working with Executive colleagues to increase waste water investment and exploring options for developer contributions. I know that Mr O'Toole asked questions about the consultation document, but I hope to see it launched in March. I will introduce the water, flooding and sustainable drainage Bill in the Assembly. During this financial year, NI Water has been allocated a budget of almost £0·5 billion, which is just under 40% of the total non-ring-fenced budget available for my entire Department. In the October monitoring round, NI Water received £32 million, £19·5 million of which has been used successfully to unlock capacity for 2,300 properties across Antrim, Derry and Tyrone. I plan to continue to have a focus on unlocking capacity. I am delighted to announce that my officials are working collaboratively with colleagues in DAERA and DFC to contribute to the aims and objectives of the Executive's housing supply strategy. That demonstrates that, despite the challenging public expenditure context, my Department is continuing to work hard to deliver positive change by improving our water and waste water infrastructure. Members have previously pointed to the governance model and highlighted alternative approaches. My Department has reviewed water utility company structures across Britain and Ireland for best practice, including mutualisation, in which the Member will be interested, given that the Alliance Party recently published its own policy proposals on the funding and form of NI Water. It has proposed mutualisation as being one possible structure. As my predecessor advised in the Assembly on 8 April last year, however, mutualising NI Water would require a significant change to be made to its governance structures, as well as the introduction of domestic charging in order to provide a separate revenue stream outside of government control or responsibility. A mutualised company cannot be created when it is reliant on the extent of government subsidy that my Department currently provides. Furthermore, the recent experience of water companies in England and Wales has demonstrated that privatised and mutualised water companies do not necessarily provide the better levels of services that people expect. Indeed, having mutualised companies can lead to higher levels of company debt and subsequent increases in costs. Finally, I will speak about 'Living With Water in Belfast', the plan that was initially published on 9 November 2021, following Executive endorsement. The plan aims to address the increasing demands on the city's drainage and waste water network that are caused by population growth, alongside the more frequent extreme weather events resulting from climate change. The plan estimated that £1·4 billion of investment would be required over 12 years to deliver it, with the majority of that required for upgrades to NI Water's infrastructure and around £200 million identified for blue-green drainage infrastructure. An anticipated £700 million increase, however, in the estimated cost of the upgrades needed to NI Water's sewerage network and waste water treatment works within the first two years alone has seen the overall costs of the plan increase to over £2·1 billion. An affordability review that my Department carried out in response to that increase concluded that the Belfast plan still needs to be delivered but that the original 12-year time frame for its delivery is no longer viable because of the increased cost. NI Water projects in the plan will now be taken forward by the company as normal business through the price control process at a scale and pace that is achievable within available budgets, rather than through a structured programme. It is important to make that point by way of response to some of the concerns that have been raised today. The plan has not been shelved or mothballed, to use the terminology that has been used.

I will indeed.

I thank the Member for his intervention. I suppose that it means that it will be delivered but over a longer time frame. The board has decided to defer these upgrades until the next price control. However, in 2025, repair work and minor works will be completed. NI Water will continue to undertake that essential maintenance to ensure that the current assets continue to work effectively. That is important, because some of the terminology being used does not reflect how it should pan out in reality. As I said, my Department will continue to identify and develop blue-green sustainable drainage projects in the Belfast plan area alongside delivery partners, including NI Water. Whilst I appreciate that blue-green infrastructure is not a silver bullet, it is critical in building the resilience of our water network going forward. It is about looking at everything in the round so that we have the best systems that we can have within our current financial envelope. It was always accepted that additional funding would be required to deliver the plan. In New Decade, New Approach, the living with water programme was identified as a beneficiary of increased funding. However, that was not received. I, however, remain committed to the Belfast plan objectives to help to protect against flooding, to enhance the environment and to grow the economy, and I will continue to make the case for additional funding to expedite their delivery. On the projects in East Belfast specifically, the upgrade of Belfast and Kinnegar waste water treatment works, the replacement of the pumping station at Sydenham and the removal of eight unsatisfactory intermittent discharges in the Dundonald area will be considered as part of NI Water's prioritisation process for the next price control. I will turn to some of the points that Members made. It is important to note that many of the issues raised could be reflected across many of our constituencies, so we should reflect on the importance of the overall picture in waste water infrastructure. I agree with the Member for East Belfast Ms Bunting that something must be done, and we have been saying that for a long time. However, I do not think that we can use the excuse that no funding means that nothing can be done, because I do not believe that that is the case. I am committed to doing as much as we can within that budget, because we cannot sit on our hands. The longer we do, the worse this problem will get, so I am committed to ensuring that, working collaboratively with NI Water and Executive partners, we do what we can within that budget. It is critical, and we cannot wait. We recognise that there are significant challenges. If the money were there, we could do so much more, and I will continue to make that case to ensure that we get the investment that is needed. Mr Brooks spoke about water quality, which is the responsibility of DAERA, and I think that the NIEA is NI Water's regulator. NI Water consistently exceeds the required waste water compliance levels across the North, so that will continue to be monitored very closely. I turn to Matthew O'Toole's comments, particularly the issues with planning. Again, we all recognise the issues. I encourage developers, at the pre-application stage, to engage with NI Water to look at what solutions are available in the current context, and, hopefully, as we move through this programme, we will see further solutions being found, because, in many cases, that has happened. We need to continue to work through that and work collaboratively. The programme board for the living with water programme has been stood down, and the individual projects within the programme are being delivered as business as usual. I hope that that gives some confidence that that has not been completely stalled. The plan remains and will be delivered, just in a different format and at a slower pace.

I am keen to see the delivery of improvements to our waste water infrastructure across the North to facilitate housing growth and economic development as well as helping to improve water quality. I reiterate that the value of our waste water infrastructure cannot be overstated. I will work alongside my Executive colleagues to secure investment to maintain and improve the quality of our waste water infrastructure for the people of the North. I thank Members for the opportunity to speak on the issue.

1,810 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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