The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage yesterday proposed a further initiative to accelerate the delivery of housing.
New regulatory changes have been proposed to permit low-volume wastewater systems, serving up to 40 homes, to be authorised through a registration system.
This registration system is proposed to be operated under General Binding Rules (GBR) to be set out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The proposal for this model is that: -
- The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will circulate information to each planning authority. In this they will outline the necessary assessment criteria for wastewater systems in small scale, multi-unit housing developments.
- Uisce Éireann (UÉ) are to work alongside developers in the establishment of wastewater infrastructure.
- UÉ are to acquire the necessary discharge authorisations, required for such wastewater systems, from the EPA.
- The responsibility for planning for such developments is to remain with the developer.
- The developer is to fund and construct the necessary infrastructure to UÉ’s requirements which is to be set out in a Design-Build-Transfer Agreement.
- Once commissioned the ownership and operation of the respective wastewater system will be transferred to UÉ.
The move aims to speed up home delivery in rural towns and villages across the country presently lacking adequate wastewater infrastructure.
It is anticipated that the regulations for GBR’s will be adopted for small-scale wastewater discharges before the end of this year with the new system to be operational early next year.
While engagement on this partnership-based model remains to be seen, in practical terms, it might just be what a developer was shy of in an area constrained by wastewater infrastructure thus enabling the delivery of small-scale housing projects.
For more information please contact Gemma Casey or Julian Cunningham or any member of the Real Estate team at Flynn O’Driscoll.
