11 June 2004
Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (Dard) has been slammed by the auditor general for failing to recoup costs from developers for the installation of drainage infrastructure.
While there are no figures available to determine the total cost of the department's failure to require developers to pay, it is estimated that about £1m a year is being lost.
In the five years to March 2003 some 96 schemes costing a total of £5.3m were involved.
The Rivers Agency, the body responsible for drainage development, told the Northern Ireland Audit Office that it had unsuccessfully attempted in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002 to resolve the matter.
However, the Northern Ireland Audit Office recorded that the agency still does not have a strategy for introducing charges, or a preferred methodology for making them. It has also failed to amend the Drainage Order to require developers to contribute to the cost of damage caused.
Dard has now agreed to draw up a strategy and has appointed consultants to propose possible charging systems. It is also drafting legislation that would enable their introduction.
PFjun2004
