UUP Seeks Maintenance Sector Boost

An official Government publication has this week confirmed the problems facing the construction trade in NI.

The Department of Finance and Personnel's Construction Bulletin showed that the industry is in crisis, with overall activity down by over 15% in little over a year.

However, one politician, the UTV journalist-turned Ulster Unionist, Mike Nesbitt, is pointing to his party's election Manifesto call for a 5% VAT rate for home improvements as a solution.

The Strangford Assembly candidate said: "The industry is facing the 'Perfect Storm'.

"The public sector is not spending, as the Executive faces a 40% reduction in capital spending; the banks are not lending, and people are too concerned about their job security to think about moving home," he commented.

"The only area where there is any sign of life is in repair and maintenance, where activity is up by 5.7%."

He said that the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) identified that area as the one where the Assembly can give this crucial economic sector a boost, by offering a discounted VAT rate.

"The Isle of Man has been doing this for some 10 years now, and the results are clear," he said.

"It stimulates the construction industry, retains skills, creates new jobs and offers an affordable way for householders to improve their dwellings, regenerates the existing housing stock, helps reduce carbon emissions in line with government targets, and undermines the viability of the black economy.

"HM Treasury helped the Isle of Man Government secure this VAT derogation from Brussels, and we call on them to do the same for Northern Ireland, as part of the creation of the proposed Economic Enterprise Zone."

His comments came after the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) published the latest edition of the Northern Ireland Construction Bulletin on Wednesday.

It is the primary measure of the value of construction output in Northern Ireland (the Index of Construction) and is obtained from the Northern Ireland Quarterly Construction Enquiry (QCE).

This is a statutory survey of construction firms operating in Northern Ireland. Each quarter a sample of construction firms is asked to provide details of the value of construction activity they have undertaken within NI in a specified period.

Among the key findings was news that the total volume of construction output in the fourth quarter of 2010 fell by 5.1% compared with the third quarter of 2010.

It also showed that the total volume of construction output in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 15.2% lower compared to the same quarter in 2009 and that in the fourth quarter of 2010, new work fell by 8.3%.

However, as highlighted by the UUP, in the fourth quarter of 2010, repair and maintenance work rose by 5.7%.

It has also just been revealed that as many as 26,000 construction jobs have been lost in Northern Ireland since 2007, in an industry slump that has cost the local economy £2bn.

After the figures were released on Thursday, the Construction Employers Federation (CEF) warned that investment in the industry was "essential".

The CEF argued that it would promote growth in the wider economy.

The group said construction alone has a "multiplier effect" on other industry.

Protests

Meanwhile, repair work was also in the news yesterday - but for different reasons - as staff at Red Sky - who carried out work on NI Housing Executive (NIHE) properties in the greater Belfast area, blocked the main gates at Stormont during a protest.

The employees of the construction firm whose maintenance contracts were cancelled by NIHE were upset about their jobs being in jeopardy and a number of vans blocked off the entrance on Wednesday.

Red Sky's contracts with NIHE were cancelled over concerns about work practices and it has now gone into voluntary administration.

Red Sky workers were also involved in a protest outside the Housing Executive's office in Adelaide Street in Belfast on Wednesday.

They handed in a letter for outgoing NI Social Development Minister, Alex Attwood.

(BMcC/GK)