Maghaberry resident calls for Glen Road lights

Deborah Patterson said that due to a lack of street lights and no footpath, the road is dangerous especially children travelling to and from school.

She said: “The road is a complete health hazard and dangerous. There are no lights on it, there’s no footpath and it’s full of potholes. I’ve been to councillors and roads service and none of them are interested.

“Our children are walking up and down that road and there isn’t even a footpath on it. It doesn’t come under the criteria to get lighting, it doesn’t come under the criteria even though it’s clearly a health hazard.

“I have asked them to get it re-assessed and the guy from the Department of Infrastructure says it has been re-assessed.

“The potholes are unbelievable because it is a pitch black road - you come upon them and the next thing the wheel is down these huge potholes.”

The Star contacted Transport NI who said there are no plans to install street lighting on this road.

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “The Department has been operating in a challenging budgetary position for some time and this has been having an impact on all road maintenance activities and the condition of the road network.

“In addition, the recent winter weather has had an impact on the road network, with water ingress and freeze thaw action after heavy rainfall and cold snaps leading to the formation of more potholes.

“The Department received a number of complaints about the condition of Glen Road and carried out inspections as soon as they were received.

“Any actionable defects were immediately picked up for repair. In order to best target the finite resources available for the provision of street lighting in rural areas, it is necessary to establish certain criteria.

“These relate to the density of development along a road, or where it is likely to help at sites that have a significant history of night-time collisions.”