Latest news with #NorthernIrelandWater
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Traders welcome street reopening after eight months
Traders in Londonderry have welcomed the reopening of one of city's busiest streets after it was closed for eight months. Foyle Street closed in August 2024 to allow for a £4.2m major upgrade to the water and sewerage infrastructure. It is due to reopen to traffic later on Friday, five weeks ahead of schedule. Record store owner Lee Mason said he was delighted to see the street returning to normal after a tough time for businesses. For five months late last year, and with the work ongoing, he said his business was hidden behind huge hoardings. "The barriers from August to December were awful, we had no visibility, the shop wasn't visible," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme. "As I have said many times, we were down 50% at weekends, and probably about 40% Monday to Thursday. "I am just glad it is done and dusted." He has now called for traders to be compensated over the disruption. "The work was essential work and we all understand that, but at the same time we need to be compensated if the work has affected our business, and it has without doubt affected our business," he said. When work got underway in August last year traders said they were concerned about the long-term impact of the closure. There was a temporary reprieve over Christmas before the street was closed off to allow NI Water to continue with the upgrade work. Olive McEleney works in her family-run hair salon on Foyle Street. She told BBC Radio Foyle that, like most traders, she totally understands the need for the work the past eight months had been tough. "Needs must, the work had to be done, but business has suffered these last eight months," she said. "We are small businesses, small family businesses, not multi-million pound companies. We were trying to keep the staff we have, keep the flow of business." She agrees that some form of financial support, possibly a rates relief scheme, would help support the Foyle Street traders. "The loss of business, especially in the run up to Christmas, the businesses were badly impacted and the rates definitely should have been considered," she said. Manager of Derry's City Centre Initiative Jim Roddy said local traders were to be commended "for their patience and understanding since work started last summer". He also said they should be compensated, if they have lost money. "Absolutely, and what needs to happen there, the loss needs to be evidenced and then that put to Northern Ireland Water and then let Northern Ireland Water consider if compensation should be paid." But he said the work was essential for the future of the city. "Anbody who knows what's going on with Northern Ireland Water at the moment and any future developments, capacity is a major, major issue for all planning applications," he said. "We were literally at full capacity within our walled city, so developments within our walled city would not have been able to happen without this work. "This now allows those developments to do ahead." In a statement, NI Water said Foyle Street would reopen to most traffic on Friday but buses would not return until the end of June. The upgrade of the 100-year-old water and wastewater infrastructure has included the installation of 400 metres (1,312 ft) of dedicated stormwater sewer as well as 170 metres (557ft) of new watermain. Work on the upgrade's final phase, which includes the reinstallation of footpaths and during which the street will be fully accessible during business hours, will be completed by the end of next month, NI Water added. Traders worry over long-term Foyle Street closure
BBC News
19-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
NI Water: Funding gap 'won't be solved by asking developers to pay'
"The big gap" in funding for water infrastructure won't be solved by Stormont's proposals to ask housing developers to help pay for it, Northern Ireland Water has said,Sara Venning, the public water company's chief executive, said it would benefit some housing projects but revenue-raising would be "fairly limited".Funding pressures affecting the wastewater system have been blamed for holding up housebuilding and other infrastructure projects in Northern Minister Liz Kimmins said she was "exploring options for developer contributions", with a consultation due to be launched in March. Plans for thousands of homes have been held up due to restrictions on new connections to the water system. Ms Venning told the Northern Ireland Assembly's infrastructure committee that NI Water had "at least an £800m investment gap".She said discussions would be held during the week with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) on the idea of "developer contributions".But Ms Venning said the "opportunity to raise additional revenue is fairly limited"."I do know for some developers, it may be helpful to be able to fund wastewater infrastructure ancillary to their site, but it is in the smaller order," she said."It is probably something along the lines of, it helps in the short term, but it isn't the long-term solution."She added that she believed developer contributions would "help in some areas, but it won't solve the big gap". Ultimately 'consumers will pay' Ms Venning was responding to questions from Democratic Unionist Party assembly member Keith described the proposals for housing developer payments as a "consumer contribution"."The developer isn't going to pay for that - it's going to fundamentally be the consumer," he who was recently appointed as infrastructure minister in a Sinn Féin reshuffle, said wastewater problems had "no quick fix or easy solution". She blamed the issues on "years of neglect as a result of British government austerity and underfunding"."The need to modernise our ageing wastewater system is a top priority for me," she said earlier in February."There is no quick fix or easy solution, which is why innovative thinking and collaborative working are so important."That is why I am exploring options for developer contributions, and I have also tasked my officials to work at a strategic level with the Department for Communities and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to establish better ways of working together to increase housing provision."
BBC News
28-01-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Storm Éowyn: NIE aims to reconnect 10,000 more properties
Another 10,000 properties will hopefully have their power reconnected by 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) has of thousands of homes and businesses were left without power due to Storm Éowyn on Friday, but that has now fallen to 50,000 after work to repair engineers have arrived from England to help restore power, but NIE has warned it could be 3 February before all properties are Northern Ireland Water said about probably 600 properties were still without water, Ronan McKeown from NIE told Good Morning Ulster it was becoming a "trickier picture" to reconnect properties which were still without added that NIE had "1,000 people on the ground" trying to restore power, 100 of whom were from "overseas" and that 250 generators had been delivered to vulnerable customers. Asked about compensation payments for people left without power for a prolonged period, Mr McKeown said conversations would continue on Tuesday between NIE and Stormont ministers, the Economy Department and Utility aftermath of the storm has also affected schools, with seven still closed on Tuesday. Gary Curran from NI Water said most of the 600 properties without water were in the west of Northern said his organisation hoped to get generators to a further 17 properties on Tuesday and that 360 vulnerable customers had water delivered to them. Emergency contacts NIE has said there are 11 Community Assistance Centres, external and more than 60 drop-in centres open until 19:00 GMT to help those without offered range from showers, food, hot drinks, and work-from-home hubs. NIE Networks reps are available for report faults or emergencies you should contact:Northern Ireland Housing Executive: 03448 920 901Openreach Damages to Network: 08000 23 20 23 (Individual faults must be logged with Communications Providers)Gas networks: 0800 002001NI Water: 03457 44 00 88 or visit externalFlooding Incident Line: 0300 2000 100NIE Networks: 03457 643 643 or visit
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bottled water is currently being distributed to help people with no mains supply
Bottled water is now being made available at Fermanagh Lakeland Forum and Omagh Leisure Complex until 4pm today to support residents who have no mains water supply. According to a statement from NI Water: 'Storm Éowyn has had a significant impact on NI Water assets, either through loss of electrical power or damage to equipment. 'Our teams were mobilised as soon as it was safe to do so and will continue to carry out repairs until all assets are operational. 'Many of our telemetry assets are currently without power, impacting our monitoring capabilities. 'Generators have been deployed to various sites throughout the weekend and teams have been identifying and repairing damaged equipment as they reach it. 'The weather conditions in the West are making this repair effort particularly challenging. 'While this emergency repair work is ongoing, some customers may remain without a water supply.' Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is among the councils supporting NI Water in distributing bottled water to customers without supply. The statement added: 'The most up to date information can be found on our website by using the postcode search at Current Service Updates - Northern Ireland Water. 'NI Water fully appreciates the frustration and impact a loss of water supply can have. Please be assured we are doing everything possible to restore water supplies as quickly as possible. 'For real-time updates and support, connect with us on our Live Chat at or follow us on X at @niwnews 'You can call our water line at 03457 44 00 88 for direct assistance; however, we would ask you to use other channels where possible to keep our lines available for our more vulnerable customers or those without internet access.'
