COMMITTEE FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Parliament Buildings
Belfast
BT4 3XX

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Email committee.regionaldevelopment@niassembly.gov.uk

Conor Murphy, MP MLA
Minister for Regional Development
Department for Regional Development
Clarence Court
Adelaide Street
Belfast
BT2 8GB

8 May 2009

Committee comments on the Minister’s draft environmental and social guidance for PC10

Dear Conor,

1. The Committee for Regional Development considered the draft environmental and social guidance for PC10 at the meetings of 22 April 2009 and 29 April 2009 and, at its meeting of 6 May 2009, decided to respond to you on the following aspects of the draft guidance.

2. As part of the Committee’s consideration of the draft guidance, Members received useful briefing from officials of the Department, the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation, Northern Ireland Water, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, and the Consumer Council. Members appreciated the generosity with which witnesses gave their time and expertise in briefing the Committee on this issue, and intend to publish the minutes of evidence as soon as the corrected Hansard transcripts are available. A copy will be provided to the Department at the same time.  

3. Members noted that the draft guidance is part of the wider PC10 process: to determine strategic priorities, costs, plans, targets, prices and customers’ views for water and sewerage services over the period from 2010 to 2013. The guidance will inform the Regulator’s price control and Northern Ireland Water (NIW) will operationalise the strategic priorities and agreed objectives and service performance targets through its business plan.  

4. The Committee is conscious that the Executive has yet to finalise its position on additional household contributions for water and sewerage services for domestic customers, and the future financing and regulatory arrangements for the provision of water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland. Executive decisions are also awaited on the basis for charging (metering or capital value) and on the nature and scale of any affordability measures identified to protect vulnerable customers. The Committee is of the view that the draft environmental and social guidance will have to be revisited once these decisions have been made.  

5. Members noted the key environmental obligations feeding into the development of the draft guidance, in particular the provisions of the Water Framework Directive, and its component directives, including the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive, the Bathing Water Directive, the Shellfish Waters Directive and the Drinking Water Directive. Members noted the progress on drinking water quality following recent sustained investment in this area, and the challenges for the future posed by compliance with the Bathing Water Directive, the Shellfish Waters Directive, the draft River Basin Management Plans, and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.  

6. The Consumer Council provided a useful briefing on the research report, jointly produced with Northern Ireland Water, on consumers’ views on priorities for water and sewerage services. Members noted the emphasis placed by consumers on sewerage issues: in particular the importance of addressing sewerage flooding inside properties. The Consumer Council report raises a number of questions in relation to the incidence of sewerage flooding in Northern Ireland, when compared with that in England and Wales (p.15). Members supported the Consumer Council’s recommendations and would urge Northern Ireland Water, the Regulator and the Department to take these issues forward, as a matter of priority as well as part of the PC10 process.  

7. Members considered the draft priorities for investment, as set out in section 6 of the public consultation, and summarised in annex B of that document. Members considered the proposed investment priority order and noted that Priority 2 outlined the areas of investment needed to improve service quality. In considering the data quality and systems improvement issues, the Committee was keen to see that these investment initiatives would be completed and the benefits realised within the regulatory cycle of PC10.  

8. The Committee noted that investments needed to address water leakage and water pressure issues were identified in priority 3, that priority 4 set out the investment needed to address surface flooding, and that the investments needed to address the longer-term EU requirements were outlined in priority 5.  

9. In relation to priority 6 Sustainability and Climate Change, Members supported the emphasis in the draft guidance on contributing to the reduction of Northern Ireland’s carbon footprint. In particular, the Committee supported proposals in relation to improving Northern Ireland Water’s energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, the need to explore the contribution that could be made by the use of sustainable drainage systems, and the development of Water Resource Management Plans.  

10. The Committee welcomed the work to include carbon costs in planning infrastructure projects for the PC13 period, and would urge all possible speed in bringing this initiative forward. In addition, the Committee was supportive of greater integration of water and sewerage capital investment planning, land-use planning and the Regional Development Strategy.  

11. The Consumer Council’s research report sets out the consumers’ views on the priority order of actions to address environmental issues. For consumers, pollution from sewerage discharges to inland waters was seen as the highest priority. The Committee was interested to note that the issue carbon emissions was, relatively speaking, a lower priority for customers as reflected in the Consumer Council’s research (p.23). Members suggested that, in the next iteration of the guidance, some discussion might be included of the relationship between carbon emissions and securing higher quality and treatment standards.  

12. Members also noted the tight timescale, as identified by witnesses in their evidence to the Committee, and the stated commitment of the stakeholder groups to strive to meet the deadlines for the PC10 process. The Committee recognised that the next key milestones in the PC10 process are NIW’s draft business plan in June 2009, the Regulator’s draft determination in September 2009, and the final environmental and social guidance, anticipated in October 2009. The Committee is keen to see the development of these outline priorities into an assessed and costed programme of investment, as the PC10 process progresses.  

13. The Committee is committed to discharging its scrutiny and advisory role in a timely and constructive manner, and looks forward to working closely with all stakeholder groups at each of these key milestones going forward.

Yours sincerely,

 

Fred Cobain MLA
Chairperson
Regional Development Committee