Debate contribution: Flooding: Six Mile River
Debate contribution by Mrs Pam Cameron on .
- MLA
- Mrs Pam Cameron
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 17 February 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Flooding: Six Mile River
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5395154
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the Adjournment debate, which is really important, and I thank my colleague Steve Aiken for securing it. I also put on record my thanks to the Minister for being here to hear the debate this afternoon. Flooding along the Six Mile river is not a new issue; it has been happening for years, as we all know, affecting the same communities, homes and roads time and time again. It is not about freak weather events but about repeated, predictable flooding, and residents are rightly asking why nothing has changed. Previous Ministers, including Sinn Féin Ministers, have visited those communities and seen the damage first-hand, yet, years on, people are still asking the same questions: where is the plan, what has been done, and when will it be fixed? That is not a criticism of front-line staff at the Department for Infrastructure. They work hard, and Members regularly engage constructively with them. The issue is about leadership, direction and delivery at a strategic level. What communities see is a system that reacts after flooding happens, rather than preventing it. Visits take place, and reviews are carried out, but the flooding continues. Planning decisions are part of the problem, as we know. We continue to see pressures from developments without proper alignment with drainage capacity, flood risk management or road infrastructure, which leaves communities downstream to deal with the consequences. Planning alone, however, is not an excuse. The real issue is the absence of a clear, coordinated, catchment-wide flood prevention approach for the Six Mile river. My constituents are crying out for a solution. Their homes have been flooded, and their possessions have been destroyed. They live with constant anxiety every time that heavy rain is forecast. That is unacceptable. Therefore, I ask the Minister to outline the immediate steps that will be taken to deliver a coordinated flood prevention approach for communities along the Six Mile river. When can residents expect to see real progress on the ground? I appreciate that John Blair and I asked questions to the Minister for Infrastructure at a recent Question Time about that, and that she has agreed, thankfully, to meet a delegation of some of the affected residents. Residents clearly want solutions. Day in, day out, they are living on rain watch and weather watch, as my colleague said. It is a horrendous place to be. I have family members who were in the Riverside area in 2008, and they are there today. We know very well the day-to-day impact that flooding can have on lives. We have all seen that, but we really need to see good cooperation across Departments and action being taken to assure the residents who are affected that we can come up with solutions and help them with the daily battle with rain and water. I thank the Minister for her attention to the debate, and I hope and trust that she will provide us with some comfort about how we can deal with the matter.
499 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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