Consultation on increasing fees for private streets

Views sought on options to generate revenue from charging for private streets inspection services in Northern Ireland.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has launched a consultation on options for introducing an increase to Private Streets Inspection fees.

A Private Street is defined as any street that is not currently part of the public road network and as such is not maintained by DfI. The Private Streets legislation is designed to recover all costs from developers for DfI’s work in processing bonds and carrying out inspections, investigations, tests and the taking of samples to ensure new streets are safe and can be adopted into the public road network. The Private Streets inspection fees have remained unchanged since 2003 and the costs of carrying out inspections of development sites are now significantly higher than they were then.

The consultation sets out and seeks views on the main pathway through which the inspection fees may be increased and identifies additional areas of the Private Streets inspection process that could be considered for the establishment of fees. DfI needs to consider how best to ensure that the cost recovery mechanism for inspection and administration of the private streets function is financially sustainable and complies with guidance on setting of fees for public services.

The consultation seeks views on the proposed options to raise revenue through raising fees and establishing new fees for Private Streets Inspections. 

Find out more about the consultation and how to respond.

First published 22 December 2023