Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (Hansard, 24 February 2003)

§ Lady Hermon
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on Northern Ireland's compliance with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. [98336]

§ Angela Smith
The number of works complying with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in Northern Ireland for the years 1999 to 2001 is:
1999–8 out of a total of 15 complied—which gives a compliance rate of 53 per cent.2000–8 out of a total of 15 complied—which gives a compliance rate of 53 per cent.2001–13 out of a total of 37 complied—which gives a compliance rate of 35 per cent.
The apparent fall in the rate of compliance between 2000 and 2001 reflects the phased introduction of targets under the UWWT Directive bringing more waste-water treatment works within its scope. For the year 2002, a total of 35 works have been assessed with the results still needing to be confirmed. However, the initial indication is that compliance is in the region of 50 per cent.—similar to 1999 and 2000.
There is a legacy of under-funding of Northern Ireland's infrastructure. However, the upgrading of Northern Ireland's water and sewerage services to meet EU regulations is a high priority. Over £250 million will be invested on the waste-water infrastructure over the next three years. This increased level of investment has been made possible by the allocation of an additional £180 million for the wider water and sewerage services over the next three years, as was announced in the Budget statement in December 2002. In addition, DRD is actively considering with the Strategic Investment Board the potential for delivering a sizeable Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme which could include a number of wastewater treatment works, as part of the Strategic Investment Programme.
This major increase in investment will deliver significant progress towards fall compliance with the Directive.

§ Lady Hermon
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will reintroduce the moratorium on planning applications for developments that would(a) cause and (b) be likely to cause a breach of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. [98337]

§ Angela Smith
Last year planning applications in a number of areas in Northern Ireland were held on a temporary basis, as a precautionary measure, as a result of concerns expressed by the Department of the230W Environment's Environment and Heritage Service about the environmental compliance and pollution implications of further development. There was no moratorium on the determination of planning applications.
Discussions took place between Environment and Heritage Service, Planning Service and Water Service and, as a result, Environment and Heritage Service and Water Service agreed an expanded and reprioritised Capital Works Programme to carry out the improvement works to the sewage treatment and sewerage systems necessary in order to ensure compliance with EU Directives and national standards. On the basis of the agreed programme, the Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly decided that planning applications that had been held on a precautionary basis and future planning applications in the locations affected would be processed to a conclusion. Dermot Nesbitt MLA announced the Executive Committee's decision in a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 7 October 2002.
It was agreed that the Department of the Environment and the Department for Regional Development would monitor the implementation of the capital works programme and compliance with the relevant environmental standards in order to allow the agreed approach to be reviewed, if necessary.
There are no grounds for altering the policy approach agreed by the Executive Committee at this stage.