FMB Northern Ireland Director, Gavin McGuire, was delighted to be joined by FMB members, Ian Lowry and Steven Nickell recently in a discussion with the Infrastructure Minister, John O’Dowd MLA.
Both members present were able to offer a powerful insight to the Minister of the reality of water and electricity connection issues in NI, and the impact these have on work and site development.
The subject of strategic planning sits under the remit of this department, so the experiences of a poor system our members work with here in NI was discussed, and the Minister was grateful for the ‘boots on the site’ insight of the FMB.
The FMB is the voice of the SME building industry, which is very much recognised by government agencies and allows us a chance to raise the issues affecting our members at every opportunity.
What did we call for?
- Clear investment in an aging infrastructure system to aid development and investment.
- A deep review of a planning system that is underfunded and not delivering on agreed targets.
Thank you to both Ian and Steven for their time. We look forward to seeing promised changes to improve the industry.
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