Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 September 2016
134. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to outline the progress to date on the taking in charge of developments with stand-alone treatment plants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27807/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have set out information below in relation to the National Taking in Charge Initiative (NTICI) for residential estates.
The National Taking in Charge Initiative (NTICI) for residential estates, and the pilot scheme funding of €10m, were both announced in April 2016. The aim of the NTICI is to accelerate the taking-in-charge process of housing estates, including estates with developer-provided water services infrastructure and to develop new working methods from the pilot funding that can be deployed in tackling further taking-in-charge requirements into the future.
The initiative draws upon data gathered from each of the 31 local authorities and collated by my Department in December 2015, which subsequently allocated funding for a number of developments on the basis of proposals from the local authorities submitted to my Department.
The information collated in December 2015 indicated that, of the 5,566 developments yet to be taken in charge, there are approximately 914 estates with developer-provided infrastructure (DPI) and work is continuing on finalising this figure.
Under the terms of the NTICI, only those developments subject to valid taking-in-charge applications were eligible for inclusion in the call for proposals for pilot funding under Circular FPS3, but it is my Department’s intention that the knowledge and experience gained under the Initiative will be applied to deal with further estates to be taken in charge over time.
Further information on NTICI can be found on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/search/archived/current?query=Taking%20in%20Charge.
With regard to the issue of stand-alone treatment plants or developer-provided (water services) infrastructure raised by the Deputy, 44 of the 353 developments approved for funding contain such infrastructure. My Department is engaged with the relevant local authorities, Irish Water and the Environmental Protection Agency in ensuring that sustainable solutions are found for these developments and that the methodologies developed can be deployed in speeding up future taking-in-charge applications as they arise.
