Newry Chamber meets with Shared Island Unit to discuss funding

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Savage said the meeting was aimed at discuss how the Shared Island Fund and other cross-border funding options could be explored as part of “a potential cocktail of funding” to unlock the severe wastewater treatment capacity issues faced in Newry which are holding up significant development plans for the city and region.

“NI Water met with us a few weeks ago and informed us that they urgently need £100 million of funding to upgrade and expand the Newry wastewater treatment plant at Greenbank in the city and its associated networks,” said Mr Savage.

“At present the funding is not in place and as a result many housing and commercial developments across the Greater Newry Area are being stalled due to NI Water placing restrictive planning conditions on the applications due to lack of capacity in the system.”

“The Greenbank wastewater treatment plant flows into Carlingford Lough which is a shared waterway on this island. We met with the Shared Island Unit to explore how cross-border funding may provide a solution to getting the upgrades we badly need to the system over the line to allow major development of our city to take place and much-needed private housing to be built.”

Mr Patterson described the meeting with the Shared Island Team as positive, adding that there is recognition of the challenges faced with infrastructure here, particularly around wastewater capacity.

“This was an initial scoping exercise and we found the engagement to be positive,” he stated.

“We have a lot more work to do to progress the conversation further and we will be engaging with NI Water in the coming weeks to put more flesh on the bone.

“We believe it is in the interests of both jurisdictions for the wastewater treatment plant at Greenbank to be upgraded to protect the ecology of Carlingford Lough and maintain a level of water quality to allow the vital mussel trawling industry to continue to flourish in the Lough.

“From a wider perspective the removal of obstacles to housebuilding in the Greater Newry Area will relieve some pressure on the housing need along Ireland’s Eastern Seaboard, so there is a lot to be gained by securing funding to deal with our wastewater treatment capacity issues.”