An ambitious plan to turn Newry into a commuter city to ease Dublin’s housing crisis is to be scrutinised by a council with planning authority on homes.
Authors of the report ‘Newry Next’ are to be asked to provide their economic paper to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s chamber amid concerns of a lack of wastewater funding holding back development plans.
However, a DUP councillor raised concerns about “Free Staters” being given priority over local people struggling to get a rung on the housing ladder.
Bringing forward the motion, Newry SDLP councillor Killian Feehan said: “This council notes the growing social, economic and environmental crisis caused by lack of capacity within the district’s wastewater infrastructure which is impeding housing and commercial development.”
He added: “Council notes the contents of the recent report, ‘Newry Next: Building a Regional Powerhouse by 2035’, which indicates that wastewater constraints are delaying (amended from impeding) 1,300 housing units in planning locally and that 29 major commercial schemes have been delayed.”
Councillor Feehan’s motion initially also called for Minister for Infrastructure Liz Kimmins to confirm long-term funding required by NI Water to upgrade its wastewater infrastructure locally, and for a special council meeting to “interrogate” Newry Next’s recommendations.
But a Sinn Fein amendment led to an almost hour-long adjournment, which instead asked the Minister to “detail her plan for funding”, as well as requesting Newry Next authors, businessman Paschal Taggart and Ger Perdisatt, a strategy adviser on artificial intelligence, to provide their report to the council’s next economy, regeneration and tourism committee for debate.
Northern Ireland Water (NIW) head of investment management, Dr Steve Blockwell has previously told local authorities that a £1bn cut in funding has left wastewater the “Cinderella of the business” causing a barrier to housing development.
The Newry Next report has set out a plan to build 6,000 new houses over the next decade around the border city to provide homes to commuters for €150,000 less than they would pay in commuter towns in the Republic.
However, Mournes DUP Councillor Henry Reilly raised concerns, saying: “I largely support the motion, but I will remind the proposer that there are people with semis in Dublin and Drogheda who are coming to Newry and buying two or three houses and renting them out.
“His own party not that long ago wanted to build 2,000 homes specifically for southerners to come up here to commute to Dublin. We should be putting our own people first, our ordinary working class people of Newry and Mourne first and stop worrying about Free Staters.”
A groan could be heard in the chamber as some councillors reacted to the DUP member’s remarks.
The amended motion was then approved.
