Sinn Féin’s Declan Kearney has called for a round table meeting between relevant statutory agencies and residents of Riverside and Massereene Street to address concerns about a proposed housing development, and ongoing flooding issues and sewerage capacity.

The South Antrim MLA said:

“Following representations made to myself and Party colleague, Cllr Lucille O’Hagan, we met with representatives from the Riverside and Massereene Street Residents Association (RAMS) to hear their concerns about ongoing flooding from the Six Mile Water, and overloading of the existing sewerage system, and potential adverse impacts from a proposed housing development at Bridge Street in Antrim.

“We also met separately with Alpha Housing representatives to convey residents’ fears. I welcome that this Housing Association and its team has now offered to meet with RAMS as soon as possible to discuss all relevant issues.

“I was deeply concerned to learn that residents living nearby to the proposed development site have not been adequately consulted, particularly about their heightened fears regarding future potential flooding, and increased pressure on the sewerage system in the Riverside and Massereene Street area.

“It should be noted that residents are also dismayed about a lack of enforcement regarding failure to install a hydrobrake and attenuation system at the Belmont Hall development, despite these being a condition of planning approval. It is for that reason I have now made representations on their behalf to the Antrim and Newtownabbey Council senior management and requested a dedicated meeting with local people regarding the Alpha development proposal. 

“All of the existing fears held by residents came sharply into focus following the serious flooding at Riverside and sewage overflow in Massereene Street on 23 November. 

“As a result Cllr O’Hagan and I met Department of Infrastructure (DfI) officials at a site meeting in Riverside last Thursday. It was agreed that they would liaise with their colleagues in DfI Roads to ensure appropriate mitigations and coordination for any potential flooding events.

“In anticipation of Storm Darragh I asked that the relevant Department for Infrastructure agencies and Council coordinated appropriately to ensure critical response measures were available over the weekend if required in Riverside and Massereene Street area.

“Cllr O’Hagan also secured an agreement with the local DfI Section Engineer to have a contractor on standby to siphon water from Riverside if required. 

“There is a need for a properly constituted civil contingency plan for emergency situations such as occurred at the time of Storm Bert. While I and Cllr O’Hagan successfully argued for greater coordination among agencies before Storm Darragh last weekend, there is a need for a more resilient multi-agency response going forward.

“The failure to engage properly with local residents about the Alpha housing development, against the backdrop of recurring flooding problems and sewage overflow in these neighbourhoods points to the obvious need for multi-agency engagement with the residents of Riverside and Massereene Street. Therefore, I have invited management representatives from DfI Rivers Agency, NI Water, and the Antrim and Newtownabbey Council senior planning team to an early round table meeting with RAMS to comprehensively address residents’ concerns. I have also notified DfI Minister John O Dowd of my intention to convene this meeting.”