To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to outline any steps she is taking to address the impact of unadopted developments on homeowners who are unable to sell their properties.

Ms Kimmins

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle,

I will answer questions 3 and 7 together. I recognise the very real difficulties that are faced by homeowners who live in unadopted developments, particularly in cases where the developer is no longer trading and the bond held by the Department is insufficient to complete the works that are required to bring the streets up to an adoptable standard. Responsibility for constructing roads and associated infrastructure to an adoptable standard rests with the developer. Where a developer fails to do that, my Department has discretionary enforcement powers under the private streets legislation, including the option to draw down on any bond of surety that is in place. However, in a number of older developments, the value of the bond does not fully reflect the cost of the outstanding works. In such circumstances, there is no legal obligation on my Department to fund the shortfall between the bond value and the cost of completion, and there is currently no dedicated budget to do so. That said, my Department continues to take a case-by-case approach. Officials will pursue developers where they remain in existence, seek to maximise the use of any available bond and engage with residents to explain the options available. Where enforcement action is considered appropriate and proportionate, it may be taken, subject to available resources and legal considerations. More importantly, I am determined to prevent those situations from arising in the future. Following the Assembly's consideration of the issue, my Department introduced strengthened private streets enforcement guidance in 2025. That has improved how and when enforcement action is initiated, tightened bond release arrangements and significantly reduced the risk of new developments entering long-term unadopted status. While those measures cannot retrospectively resolve all legacy cases, they represent an important step in better protecting homeowners. I will continue to keep the position under review and engage with Executive colleagues and the Assembly on that complex and longstanding issue.

Mr McMurray

Thank you, Minister. You acknowledged that the developers are ultimately responsible, but there have been policy failures that led to the current situation. You referenced the future, but will you develop more robust responses in order to help those who are already stuck in unadopted developments?

Ms Kimmins

As I said, I appreciate the strength of feeling around legacy issues where people have been caught in such situations, particularly where the developer is no longer trading. I regularly receive correspondence from the many people who are in such situations across the North where that issue has had an impact.

At present, there are no plans to review or amend the private streets legislation. It is important to recognise that any legislative change would need careful consideration, particularly in relation to cost, fairness and legal liability. We had a discussion following the previous question on the ability to maintain our roads to a standard. We struggle to maintain the adopted roads that are already within our responsibility, so we have to be cautious about adding further costs to the mix. I am not shirking my responsibility. The Department has not caused the situation, but we are trying to tighten measures to protect people. As I said in response to the previous question, I will continue to keep that position under review and to engage with the Executive and the Assembly on the issue, because I recognise that it is stressful for anybody who is impacted on. It is important to take all that into consideration in moving forward.

Ms Kimmins

As I said, I am not in any way underestimating its impact, but I have to ensure that I have the ability to deliver on it. That is why I have said that I will keep it under review. There are a number of factors that we have to carefully consider as part of that. As the Member said, it is a long-standing issue. It is impacting on many sites across the North. I can only imagine that the scale of that and the cost of rectifying it would be significant. We have to be careful about what we promise people because it is another thing to be able to deliver on it. That said, we have to continually look at that to see what else we can do. I have tried to ensure that we put in place policy that protects people going forward. That is a recognition of the significant impact. I am happy to continue to work on it. I take the Member's point that it is not good enough to keep it under review, but we have to remember where the issue arose from. There were measures in place to try to ensure that it did not happen. We will continue to engage on it and will see what else is available to us, but, at this point in time, I have brought forward policy changes to try to protect people as best I can within the remit that I have.

Mrs Dillon

I apologise for not being in my place for question 1 during Question Time to the Executive Office. I welcome the new MLA to the Chamber and offer our well wishes to Gary. We are thinking of him. Minister, with regard to actions to strengthen enforcement and reduce the risk of new housing developments becoming long-term unadopted sites, can you outline exactly what you are doing in working with planners? It is not all about money; some of it is about the inability to adopt sites because they do not have sight lines. Irresponsible actions are being carried out by developers, and those who end up picking up the costs are unknowing, unwitting people who buy homes in those developments and are left in a position where they cannot sell, cannot get mortgages, cannot develop their homes and cannot move house.

Ms Kimmins

In September 2025, I announced the introduction of new private streets enforcement guidance that strengthens how and when enforcement action is taken. The guidance establishes a clear threshold for initiating enforcement action two years after a development reaches 80% occupancy. Alongside that, my Department has amended bond release thresholds, which enables a larger proportion of the bond to be retained. That provides greater assurance that sufficient funds are available to bring new developments up to an adoptable standard where enforcement becomes necessary. Taken together, those measures significantly reduce the risk of new developments remaining unadopted and provide stronger protection for homeowners while maintaining the principle that responsibility for private streets rests with the developer until adoption. I think that there are a number of factors. The Member is right in saying that there are other things that do not involve cost, but everybody needs to take responsibility to find a solution. It is totally unfair that those homeowners are left in that position, but the reality is that the cost to rectify that will be huge. We have to think about how we got to this position. As I said, I will continue to look at things on a case-by-case basis, because not all cases are the same. Whilst there are probably common themes, there are some cases that we can continue to work on. That is why I have said that we will keep things under review, and, where possible, I am willing to provide support through the Department.

Mrs Erskine

I am working on the issue through my private Member's Bill. Recently, the Minister announced developer-led contributions, but surely that already happens by way of the article 161 mechanism whereby developers can construct their own waste water treatment in developments. I have seen countless situations where NI Water and her Department failed to adopt developments after construction. Therefore, will the developer-led contributions not lead to more unadopted developments and add to the crisis that is affecting homeowners across Northern Ireland?

Ms Kimmins

First, I am delighted to see the Member back, and I hope that Olivia is doing well. It is great to have you back, but I know that you have had a busy time over the past number of months. Developer-led contributions are slightly different, and it is important to provide that clarity. At present, NI Water cannot accept funding to deliver waste water connections for a developer. The contributions that I am bringing forward will allow developers to fund connection so that they can make a contribution to allow that to go ahead. That will help to unlock capacity in areas where NI Water cannot, at present, deliver the connections. It is slightly different in the sense that it will allow developers, through a contribution-based approach, to carry out works to the standard that NI Water would deliver. In some of the conversations that we have had, developers have been quite frustrated. There may be areas of constraint where, with the current price control, NI Water has not been able to get that work done. There may be potential for some developers to come together to unlock capacity in certain areas, and that would enable them to do so where they are willing to make that voluntary contribution. The existing legislation does not allow for that, and that is why I have chosen to bring that forward on a voluntary basis at the beginning. We will review that to see whether we can look at a compulsory contribution scheme going forward.

Ms D Armstrong

I am dealing with four cases of unadopted developments in Fermanagh. In one of those cases, the residents, at great personal cost, have put forward money to ensure that the bond is expanded and that more money is available there. That process is ongoing, and the lack of further movement is causing considerable anguish. Is it fair that residents who are contributing financially to a solution are having to wait an extremely long time for a resolution?

Ms Kimmins

I encourage the Member, if she so wishes, to write to the Department about that specific case to give me a wee bit more detail. I am not familiar with that case off the top of my head. I will be happy to look at that and see whether there is any way of expediting that. I am not sure about the reason for the delay, but I am happy to look at it. If that is a potential way of finding a solution to allow those homeowners to move forward with their lives, we will, absolutely, be happy to do anything that we can to facilitate it.

Mr Carroll

Road maintenance is welcome when it happens. You will probably be aware of the situation in the Lagmore area of west Belfast, where it has taken a lifetime to get roadworks completed. A lot of disruption and frustration has been caused, and people do not know why it is taking so long. Have you or your Department engaged in any discussions with the developer about making some form of financial payment to assist with maintenance?

Ms Kimmins

I am not familiar with whether there have been discussions about that. I am not even sure whether that would be appropriate. I encourage the Member to write to the Department so that I can provide a more detailed response. I am aware of recent schemes that have been delivered in Lagmore. Whilst I appreciate that delays and disruptions to people's daily lives can be very frustrating, I hope that the outcome has been widely welcomed, because I know that those works were badly needed. My colleague Danny Baker is not here, but I know that he has been lobbying for some time to ensure delivery in that area. I appreciate that frustration has been caused, but I hope that people will benefit from that work now.