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Commercial development of brownfield sites in Northern Ireland
is being stymied by inadequate resources to handle contamination
assessments, it was claimed recently.
Michael Boyd, director of environmental services at White
Young Green Ireland (WYG), said it was essential for adequate
funding to be put into the Department of Environment to bring
Northern Ireland up to speed with the rest of the UK and free-up
development projects.
At the core of the problem is the handling of contamination
reports on brownfield sites by the Environment and Heritage
Service (EHS) and the lack of resources devoted to processing
them. Reports can take a year or more to clear planning which,
Mr Boyd said, was deterring developers from taking on such
projects.
As such, he called for the full implementation of Part III
of the Waste and Contaminated Land Order, to assist with the
identification and development of Ulster’s brownfield sites.
Brownfield is the term generally used to describe previously
developed land, which may or may not be contaminated.
However, despite the UK government’s declared aim that 60
per cent of new development should be on some of the 12,000
such sites across the province, Mr Boyd said the process was
log-jammed by the lack of necessary investment.
“The developers are doing the contaminated land assessments
- but, because there are inadequate resources within the EHS,
they’re not able to turn these reports around quickly enough
and it’s causing huge delays in the planning. There’s only
two full-time people that actually review these reports and
I have 16 consultants here at WYG, alone, writing them.”
Mr Boyd was speaking after addressing the Northern Ireland
Environment Forum and he acknowledged that the issue was widely
recognised and not of the EHS’s making. Nevertheless, he said
the need for action in both financial and environmental terms
was compelling.
“The implementation of Part III will ensure that the funding
is in place to provide adequate resources within the EHS and
environmental health departments - firstly, to assess proactively
the extent of contaminated land in Northern Ireland and, secondly,
to deal reactively with the high level of planning applications
on brownfield sites across the Province.
“The governing legislation has not been enacted and, until
it is, the resources will not be funnelled from central government
into it.”
Stressing that brownfield sites offered ideal locations for
redevelopment in Northern Ireland, he said they played a role
in attracting new investment by business and creating employment
opportunities.
“Regeneration work of this type is really important in Northern
Ireland. It’s essential that we have the proper framework
in place to help us develop brownfield sites so that we make
best use of previously developed land, while also providing
new areas that people can appreciate, use and enjoy for years
to come.”
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