To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the number of housing units in the Causeway Coast and Glens local council area that cannot currently proceed, due to wastewater infrastructure constraints.

The management of the public water and wastewater infrastructure is an operational matter for NI Water. I have sought further information from NI Water to inform the response to your question.

NI Water has advised that as a statutory consultee in the planning process it can only make recommendations to local planning authorities following a consultation request. The local planning authority is the decision maker on whether a planning application is approved.

In that context, NI Water has advised that based on the latest statistics available it has recommended the refusal of 901 housing units in the Causeway Coast and Glens local council area. Some of these applications have the potential to connect pending engagement with NI Water, and the agreement and delivery of a suitable solution. This is a developer led process and the developer needs to determine if any agreed solution is commercially viable. In addition to these applications NI Water has advised of one further housing unit in the council area that will not get a connection to the public foul network due to its location in a closed catchment area.