Minister urged to think again overunfinished roads

RESIDENTS in Lisburn and Dunmurry left ‘high and dry’ and forced to live in new developments with unfinished roads and paths after developers went bust must get help, the Mayor has said.

Last week Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy said his department would not foot the bill for unfinished roads in estates where developers had gone out of business.

DRD announced that the £300m cost would not come out of the public purse and said that although homeowners have already paid their rates, they will have to pay for any repairs needed to allow the roads to be adopted by the Roads Service.

But Councillor Brian Heading said residents should not be expected to foot the bill or bail out bankrupt developers.

Mr Heading said he will be pushing for a meeting between the DRD, banks and council officers to try to come to a compromise.

“A lot of residents in Lisburn, Lambeg and Dunmurry have been simply left high and dry,” said Mr Heading.

People who handed over hard-earned money on the promise of a new house and paid their rates without question should not now be expected to pay additional sums just to bail out bankrupt developers.

“The Department is no more responsible for the situation than the homeowners, but they are responsible for adopting roads and maintaining them and they have greater financial clout than the average householder.

“I am appalled at the intransigence that Danny Kennedy is currently displaying.

“The Minister must meet homeowners halfway and seek a viable solution which does not foist the failings of recession-stricken developers onto the already-pressed bank accounts of mortgage-payers.

“Banks, the DRD and the council officers should be getting together to see how these roads can be adopted. At the end of the day we are talking about people’s homes and they have been left unsaleable because of the situation.”