Question Time: Regional Development Tuesday 8 April 2014
The Minister for Regional Development, Danny Kennedy, was
pleased to discuss the benefits of a 4% drop in non-domestic water charges
during today’s
Question Time. The overall savings will depend on the water consumption and
rateable value of premises and will not only help businesses but hospitals,
churches, residential homes and those in the voluntary sector. This “good news”
has accompanied the recent announcement that parking
charges in town centres are to be reduced with the launch of a six month
pilot to extend the ‘5 hours for £1’ scheme that proved so successful over
Christmas.
The Minister also discussed the latest progress on
redeveloping the old Waterside station in Derry into an integrated transport
hub. At this stage it is not considered that any new development would have any
impact on the City centre bus station (other than the improvement of
connectivity between the new and existing facilities). Early estimates are that
the redevelopment would cost around £17m – money which is not accounted for in
the budget. Therefore the future of the project depends on the securing of the
necessary funding. It is hoped that EU funding sources might be a viable option
for finance.
Also discussed during the scheduled oral questions were the
impact of the Reservoirs Bill on the Department’s reservoirs, the Enniskillen
bypass and travel times on A6 routes. During topical questions the Minister
also answered questions on contingency plans in case of summer flooding in East
Belfast, charges for motorbike races and the possibility of improvements on the
Enterprise train service from Belfast to Dublin.
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