Nominal Fee and response within 28 working days.

We will review the existing network and treatment capacity and the anticipated points of connection for water and sewerage services. We will also complete checks and advise of existing NIW infrastructure within the site boundary and if the site is within an odour boundary for one of our assets.

We will then provide a written response including a copy of our records adjacent to the site.

If there are no constraints you can progress to make a formal planning application. NI Water will then be able to provide a positive response in support of your planning application.

If there are constraints you will be asked to submit an Impact Assessment Application for Water, Wastewater or Odour and NIW will work with you to identify potential solutions. For a site where we identified constraints, NI Water will recommend to the planning authority that the planning be refused until you have completed the necessary impact assessments and agreed a developer led solution for the constraints.

We will aim to have a response to you within 65 working days. It may take longer where the identified constraints are complex.

The majority of constraints currently identified are due to wastewater incapacity. There are however some areas where we do have water capacity issues.

We will identify potential engineering options specific to your site to address the wastewater or water needs for your development. In most cases this will involve the use of developer funded and designed solutions. In some cases it may not be possible to find any solution. We will produce a solutions engineering report for your consideration.

If you agree to progress to solution development, we will agree how you develop the options into a site specific option for your Development.

NI Water will support your application for planning permission where you have a valid pre-development enquiry that identifies no capacity issues.

If you have had to apply for an impact assessment and a solution is agreed with NI Water, we will recommend to the planning authority that your approval is conditioned subject to the delivery of the capacity solution.

If you apply for planning without completing a pre-development enquiry or undertaking an appropriate impact assessment and there are capacity constraints issues, we will recommend to the planning authority that your application should be refused. We will be happy to re-consider our recommendation on completion of an impact assessment by the developer.

Once you have full planning permission we will support you with applications to connect to our Water and Wastewater Network.