Drainage Infrastructure Charging

The costs for providing drainage infrastructure improvement schemes to facilitate development throughout Northern Ireland are currently borne entirely by the Rivers Agency with developers benefiting from the schemes without contributing.  Consideration has been ongoing since 1984 into methods by which developers could contribute to off-site drainage or other infrastructure improvement costs associated with development.

The Drainage (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 was made on 7 June 2005 and came into operation on 8 August 2005, providing the Department with the power to charge for infrastructure works.

Based on the recommendations of the consultants appointed by the Rivers Agency the Minister for the Department accepted that a standard charge based on historic costs was the most suitable approach.

A Consultation Document on the proposed charging policy was issued on 31 October 2005. Following that consultation the Department is now developing the subordinate legislation required to introduce the charging arrangements.