It seems that every Monday afternoon is west Tyrone afternoon. We had a similar discussion last week. I welcome all Members to the area of the most profound, undiluted, unpolluted raw beauty in the whole Province. We had a problem 10 years ago when the area plan was launched.

One means devised by planners to keep rural people in rural areas and to encourage rural development was to create hamlets. That having been accepted as the best way forward, it was discovered that prior to direct rule one Department, never corresponded with another. When such things as sewerage were discussed, I discovered that hamlets were unheard of in what is now the Department for Regional Development.

Fortunately, since the end of direct rule and the appointment of Ministers Peter Robinson and Gregory Campbell there has been a change of heart. People in rural areas appreciate that. Many isolated people who could not get water under the old £2,900 scheme have taken advantage of the new £5,000 scheme - already over 80 people have done so. That has been a godsend to them. Well done to the Ministers involved, because that was the first progress for rural dwellers after 10 years of lobbying.

There are 29 hamlets in the Omagh District Council area and a similar number in that of Strabane District Council. Only the other week Cllr Byrne and I went to Clanabogan. After much lobbying, half of that hamlet is getting a sewerage system. Topography prevents the other half being done at present. The half that is being done now is considered to be more cost effective. No recognition was given by one Department because the Departments did not correspond. Therefore, there is now a great time lag and drawback to development.

Hamlets originate round a church, a school and possibly a local shop or post office, and in the past they have made do with local septic tanks. However, farmers are coming under increasing pressure. The sheughs and burns that serviced their farms are now being threatened because the hamlets are expanding and septic tanks are pouring into the local water supply. Farmers feel threatened, and the developers and builders do not want to proceed because they do not want to upset the balance of nature. So they await instruction from the Department for Regional Development.

I am grateful that the matter is being taken seriously by the Department. A new sewerage works is different in appearance from those of the olden days. It is no longer a crude construction of metal work and concrete blocks that existed in unsightly forms at the end of villages. Now they can be well screened and levelled into the ground so that they are not an architectural obscenity. The matter is being taken on board by the Departments, and I am glad to see that the technological process is beginning to match up.

I congratulate the Minister for Regional Development on coming to Omagh. After all the requests that Omagh people have made, he is the one Minister who has accepted. He has been there three or four times already. Every time he has come to Omagh he has brought money. Anyone coming to Omagh is welcome if they do that. West Tyrone has never had as much development as it has had recently. There has been the Leckpatrick scheme, phase two of the Strabane bypass, the Newtownstewart bypass, stage three of the Omagh bypass and the Garvaghy Road scheme. That amounts to £16·5 million.

That is in contrast to 30 years of bombed buildings having to be replaced and of compensation having to be paid out. We could have had good roads, sewerage facilities and water supplies, but we had to do without, because the money had to go elsewhere. I am delighted to see someone aping the "Give them all water" challenge that was issued in millennium week in the Omagh council chamber. I am delighted and flattered to see that. The fact that funding for sewerage schemes has been increased from £2,300 to over £4,000 has been most welcome.

Ten years ago, the Department of the Environment made the decision to help the rural community diversify, but now, as part of the Government's policy of rural proofing, of making equality work, of ensuring that equality is accessible, there will have to be a further cocktail of funding to help the Department supply those areas that are presently beyond the scheme.

I received a letter last Thursday from the residents of Backglen Road, which is three miles from Omagh. The irony was that their land was in the catchment area of the local reservoir, yet they were at such an altitude that they needed a pump to receive a water supply. They were delighted to have fresh water coming into their household for the first time, and two young children were able to enjoy bathing and showering in their own home instead of going to the local facilities in Omagh town. Of the benefits that come from investment, family contentment is one of the greatest.

In the name of the people who have yet to be provided with sewerage facilities, I ask those involved in planning to collaborate. The new jargon is "joined-up government", but I call it "corresponding with each other in ordinary, friendly terms". We must get to the stage where we do not have a situation where the Planning Service decides one thing, and you come along 10 years later trying to play catch-up. If collaboration had been taking place then, we would not be in this dilemma now. A cocktail of funding should be put together so that development in the rural community, which is still necessary, can continue, hamlets can be created and schools kept open.

If sewerage facilities are not available, development cannot happen. If we can get a package together in respect of sewage disposal for the hamlets, we will be able to solve some problems immediately, and we will also be able to sustain rural development. We will be able to keep schools and churches open and all the local facilities going, but it is a matter of keeping things rural. I am appealing for a cocktail, comprising funding from Europe and partnership boards. We must use the various sources available and put together a variety of packages that will enable rurality to be highly thought of rather than having the connotation of deprivation.

I say to both Ministers involved: Well done. You have been good and kind to west Tyrone, but help us to go further by bringing together joined-up government and, above all, a package that will sort out the sewage disposal systems in almost 40 hamlets in the area.

I too welcome the chance to contribute. The Member who raised the matter is trying to address the question of establishing a quality of life equal to that enjoyed by others throughout Northern Ireland.

The issue of cross-departmental involvement, correspondence - whatever you want to call it - comes to the fore. I stress the importance of a clean water supply and good sewerage facilities to the health and well-being of people in rural areas. We know that care in the community is one of the issues coming through in the health proposals, and it is a growing area. How can people be sent to their own homes to be cared for in the community when they have not got an appropriate water supply or sewerage facilities? That is a cross-departmental issue.

There is stifling of the regeneration of the rural community that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is trying to encourage. Many of those who live in the country and small isolated households are at the older end of the age spectrum. It has been rightly pointed out that younger people want and expect better facilities. Older folk are prepared to put up with it because that is where they have always lived. Therefore, those younger people who seek to develop a new home to start a new life and who wish to live in the country are prevented by the fact that we have not got the sewerage facilities and water supply that we want.

Small rural businesses taking part in the rural regeneration that we hear about in the Chamber cannot be got up and running because the appropriate facilities are not there to support them. There seems to be an effort to force our communities to move to the towns. The closure of schools and churches in certain areas has been mentioned. The community facilities that they offer through a church hall, an Orange hall, a GAA club, or whatever, need to be aided and supported by the facilities that we are imploring the Minister to supply. The business of forcing people into towns is a growing issue for the rural community. One of the factors forcing them into town is the lack of the facilities we are addressing today.

Mr Gibson and others have mentioned hamlets in rural areas, and I am sure that some Members will recall that the proposed crossroads developments - the smaller version of the hamlet - were all stifled because of the lack of proper facilities to allow the planners to say "Yes, we will allow that to go ahead."

It has all been said. The areas have been identified. I am surprised that Mr McElduff did not identify the area of Aghyaran as one of the major outlying areas in west Tyrone and the Strabane District Council area. I support the general thrust of the motion. I trust that we will gain support in the Assembly today and that the Minister can give us some hope that, perhaps with a tweaking of the criteria and funds coming in from other Departments, he will be able to give us in the rural community the facilities that I know he wants to provide.

My Department's Water Service has maintained a high level of capital investment on upgrading water and sewerage facilities in the Omagh District Council and Strabane District Council areas in recent times. However, continued investment remains necessary over a much longer period to achieve the higher level of modern service properly expected by all customers. Subject to funding, my Department has planned a very significant construction programme in the west Tyrone area.

I want to deal specifically with that matter before responding to the comments that were made during the debate.

In the five-year period up to 2000, a total investment of £18 million was targeted at five major water supply projects and 10 sewerage projects across the area. That included the upgrading of the water treatment works at Castlederg, which is ongoing at a cost of £10 million. This year, construction work has started on a £6 million programme, which is largely targeted at improving drinking-water quality. Improvements to the Lough Braden/Lough Macrory water supply system will continue with the £4 million upgrading of the Lough Braden treatment works.

Planned expenditure over the next five years includes £9 million for four water supply projects to ensure an adequate supply of high-quality water. This will comprise the upgrading of the Lough Macrory water treatment works and the provision of a new river intake to the Derg water treatment works to cater for increasing demand. Over the same five-year period, £22 million is to be spent on waste-water treatment facilities to ensure compliance with modern regulatory and European Directive standards. The work will also serve to protect the environment, including the river systems of the area. The construction of new waste-water treatment works is planned for Omagh and Strabane, subject to the resolution of all the relevant practical details, including planning approval and land acquisition. Between 2005 and 2010, an investment of £14 million is to be made on water main improvements across the region. A programme of studies has commenced to quantify detailed requirements.

I will now discuss the reasonable cost allowance referred to by a number of Members. Despite the investment I outlined, I am acutely aware that a small number of properties do not have access to mains water supplies. Generally, they are located in remote or isolated areas, and mains water connections have previously proved to be impossible on cost and technical grounds. In May 2000, the reasonable cost allowance used to determine connection to a water mains was almost doubled to £5,000 for existing properties. I should stress that the previous scheme was in place for more than 15 years. We estimate that the increase will enable approximately one third of unconnected properties in Northern Ireland - or some 1,800 properties - to have access to mains supplies for the first time.

Since the increase was announced, 12 properties in the Omagh District Council area, which were previously considered to be uneconomic, have been connected to the main supplies. Mr Byrne said that 82 property owners have taken advantage of the scheme in the past two years.

A further five water main extension schemes are at the design or construction stage. Those schemes, which involve the laying of some 3,300 metres of new water mains, will enable a further 13 existing properties to be connected.

The Water Service has identified 39 properties in the Omagh District Council area that cannot be connected to mains supplies, despite the increase in the reasonable cost allowance. The remote location of those properties also precludes connection on technical grounds, since it is not possible to keep water disinfected as it travels through long mains. However, I strongly believe that all households should be able to enjoy access to quality water supplies, so I have instructed my officials to consider providing financial assistance to householders to improve the quality of their private supplies. The Water Service has undertaken a study of unconnected properties in its western division, which will inform the scope of any such grant scheme.

As regards planning approval for hamlet developments, the Water Service is routinely consulted during the consideration of any planning application on the subject of the feasibility of providing water and sewerage services to new developments. However, planning policy with regard to hamlet developments is a matter for the Department of the Environment.

In conclusion, I must refer to the revised charging guidelines. The announcement that I referred to regarding the increase in the reasonable cost allowance for existing properties in May 2000 also referred to a review of the charging guidelines for the provision of infrastructure to new developments. The review has now been concluded, and my officials will shortly undertake a consultation exercise on the draft proposals arising from the review. They will also take account of equality perspectives as they undertake the task.

I view with all seriousness the fact that some people have not got access to a mains water supply. I will endeavour, insofar as it is practicable and possible, to ensure that the quality of water that is supplied to those homes improves over the coming years. I hope that the review that I have just outlined regarding new developments will be announced in the near future. Obviously, I will undertake to study closely any proposals that I get in relation to the consultation exercise that follows that announcement.

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