AQW 30411/22-27

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 05/09/2025
Answered On Date: 22/09/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to outline the incentives available to encourage private developers to install green roofs on commercial and residential buildings.

Answer:

My department does not have an incentive scheme to encourage private developers to install green roofs on commercial and residential buildings.

However, green roofs are a form of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), and the planning system and regional strategic planning policy has at its heart the objective of furthering sustainable development. It encourages and supports efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. While green roofs are not specifically referenced in the Strategic Planning Policy Statement (SPPS), it does promote the use of SuDS to reduce flood risk and improve water quality.

In addition, the new Water, Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Bill, which is currently going through the Assembly, will allow my department to make regulations in relation to the design, approval, operation, and maintenance of SuDS. In tandem with this, my department is carrying out a public consultation to seek views on the development and implementation of new policies and regulatory arrangements to ensure nature-based SuDS, such as grassed swales, raingardens and detention ponds are provided in new housing developments in the future.