Sewer system problems blocking 19,000 new Northern Ireland houses, Stormont committee told

NI Water has been blocking large new housing developments in many parts of Northern Ireland due to fears that sewers in those areas wouldn’t be able to handle the extra demand.

The chief executive of the Construction Employers Federation, Mark Spence, told MLAs that as a result the province is experiencing a 60-year low in home building, a situation he described as ‘undoubtedly a housing crisis’.

Stormont’s Infrastructure Committee has been investigating the impact of NI Water’s capacity issue on the construction sector.

Mr Spence told the committee that over the past 15 years, only around half of the homes Northern Ireland needs have been built.

He said: “That has resulted in a dearth of new supply of housing of all tenure types, exacerbating our social housing waiting lists and the difficulties that many have in moving from home rental to home ownership.”

Currently, he stated, NI Water’s restrictions are holding up around 8,500 new houses in the private sector – which he stated equates to £1bn of investment.

Mr Spence told the committee that for 15 years only around 50% of the homes required in Northern Ireland had been built.

He said: “That has resulted in a dearth of new supply of housing of all tenure types, exacerbating our social housing waiting lists and the difficulties that many have in moving from home rental to home ownership.

“When coupled with the proposals of housing associations and other developers, that figure goes up to around 19,000 homes which are unable today to proceed,” he added.

“That figure again doubles to 37,000 if you factor in the number of housing inquiries that NI Water have received.

“This gives us a 60-year low in housing completions in 2023. The figure in 2024 is likely to be even lower.

“We are therefore undoubtedly in the middle of a housing crisis in Northern Ireland.”

He went on to call for a change in NI Water’s funding arrangements, suggesting the body needs to be allowed to borrow money pay for sewer and processing plant upgrades, instead of relying on single-year budgets.

“We do not believe that this change requires the introduction of individual household bills, water charging, or indeed any uplift in the existing rates bills paid by domestic consumers,” he said.

“Rather, a direct income stream could be created, along with additional legislation [that would] enable them to fully borrow against their assets.

“Short of a fundamental reform of this nature, we fail to see how Northern Ireland’s Executive can sustainably fund NI Water’s needs given how crucial that investment is to the wider economic activity.”

Failure to reform the body’s funding arrangements, he argued, could have ‘catastrophic consequences’ for Northern Ireland’s economy.

Meanwhile Ciaran Fox, director of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects, described the current situation as a postcode lottery for developers, as some areas will be given easy approval, others told there’ll be a considerable cost to connect to sewers, and some given ‘a black and white no’.