Agenda and minutes

Apologies were reported on behalf of Councillors Canavan, McMullan and Walsh.

            No Declarations of Interest were reported.

            The information contained in the reports associated with the following item is restricted in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

      Resolved – That the Committee agrees to exclude the members of the press and public from the meeting during discussion of the following item as, due to the nature of the items, there would be a disclosure of exempt information as described in Section 42(4) and Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

            The Members were also reminded that the content of ‘restricted’ reports and any discussion which took place during closed session must be treated as ‘confidential information’ and that no such information should be disclosed to the public as per Paragraph 4.15 of the Code of Conduct.  

            The Chairperson welcomed Mr. S. Richardson, Director of Living with Water Programme, to the meeting.

            Mr. Richardson provided an overview of the Living with Water Programme and the review process which was currently underway in relation to the Strategic Drainage Infrastructure Plan for Belfast.

            During discussion, in response to Members questions in relation to local Wastewater Pumping Station upgrades, Mr. Richardson advised that updates could be provided by Northern Ireland Water in due course.

            The Committee then considered the report and associated appendices in relation to the item.

            During further discussion, the Director of Property and Projects advised that the Committee discussions would inform the Council’s response to the review in line with the feedback timeline, however, the opportunity to provide a further response could be considered once budgets for the programme had been finalised.

            The Chairperson thanked Mr. Richardson for his attendance and he retired from the meeting.

            After discussion, the Committee:

·        noted the information which had been provided and that, where relevant, the LWW team would provide further information on the issues raised; and

·        noted that a review of the LWW programme was currently underway and authorised officers to submit a written response to LWW on the interim review findings informed by the Committee discussions.