Funding Shortfalls Halt Improvements On Strand Road

NI Water has confirmed that there are no immediate plans to upgrade the wastewater system at Strand Road, Coleraine – a decision which may complicate future local development.

During a recent Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council meeting, Dr Steve Blockwell, NI Water’s head of investment management, engineering and sustainability directorate, explained that capacity issues in the wastewater network have already prevented connections for new housing in several council areas.

He noted that many regions – including Ballintoy, Ballymoney, Coleraine, Dungiven, Kilrea, and Limavady – are affected by an overburdened treatment works and sewer network, compounded by a lack of funding to upgrade existing assets. NI Water has recently addressed blockages near Christie Park on Strand Road following public complaints.

However, concerns remain, as DUP councillor and Deputy Mayor Tanya Stirling drew attention to “ongoing issues” with the wastewater system.

“NI Water has confirmed that they had cleared the blockages,” Councillor Stirling said. “However with housing developments being approved every month, will this lead to further issues especially in that area? Because I read that it was not going to be upgraded due to restraints on funding.”

Dr Blockwell reiterated the current stance on upgrades, stating there are no short-term plans for improvements at Strand Road. “What that means is that we’ll have to carry out more base maintenance to maintain or maximise the operation of these systems,” he said. “It doesn’t help if things that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet are put there and block up our pumps and pipes. ‘If developments are to come along then they must separate a large quantum of storm water, to stop the rainwater getting in the system and take it out, and that creates capacity then for the connections to be made. So that’s how we try and accommodate extra growth.’”

Gavin McCready, head of wastewater, customer and operations directorate, described Strand Road as being served by a “challenging sewer” with a “long history of blockages and problems”. He explained: “It is quite a flat sewer along the river there, there’s a lot of development upstream with the Riverside Retail Park, and then there are houses that have been built up in over number of years and behind that.

“So that sewer does struggle, we know it struggles, but we do a maintenance programme across Northern Ireland to maintain them as best we can.

“We don’t have the funding to do every sewer in the frequency that we would like to, but we do try and give it extra attention because we do know the sensitivity of that particular area.”