Northern Ireland Water funding model ‘clearly not fit for purpose’

Mr Spence said his organization was calling for an “independent expert-led review” into the way Northern Ireland’s water is financed.

“All reviews to date have been done internally by the department, they are marking their own homework,” he added.

“We are not predetermining the outcome of this, I’m afraid the minister is predetermining the outcome of this review.”

Mr Spence said the problem with developer contributions was “it’s not a small amount of money… you’re talking millions of pounds”.

“If you’re only building a small number of homes, how do you cover that cost?

“You can only make that cost economically viable if you’re building a lot of homes, or if you’re building homes that cost so much that the wealthiest people can afford them, it’s problematic,” he said.

Mr. Spence warned of creating “a two-tiered water system here that only the wealthiest would be able to connect to.”

He said this would “mean leaving social housing out of this scenario entirely.”

“I’m sure that was not the minister’s intention,” he added.

The BBC has contacted the department for a response.