State of roads near Hillsborough blasted as being in ''unacceptable and awful'' condition

The County Down village of Hillsborough. Photo by Phillip Magowan / Press Eye

Residents have consistently called for the roads in the village to once again be completely resurfaced by the Department of Infrastructure’s Eastern Division.

However, the Castlereagh South Cllr said it was clear that some roads weren’t included in the list of programmed works and others were not being programmed fast enough.

The elected representative said the road needs to be repaired “quickly”, but added that she was concerned it will not happen for a number of months.

She said: “Hillsborough is a key cornerstone in tourism not just for Lagan Valley, but is a regional destination with our Castle, Gardens, forest playpark and is the jewel in the Crown of Lagan Valley.

“But the roads in and around the village are in bad need of resurfacing and it needs to be done quickly.

“We need the road networks to match the great offering that Hillsborough has to make. It isn’t acceptable that rural roads are often overlooked for improvements or are slow in being upgraded.

“I have also had disappointment when requesting rural footpaths across Lagan Valley.

“More people are being active which is a great thing that we want to encourage, but we need our roads to be safe.”

Meanwhile, the Department said the road was on the Department’s draft three year resurfacing programme.

A spokesperson said: “The Dromore Road is inspected on a quarterly cyclical basis.

“Any defects identified during these inspections, which meet current intervention levels are processed for repair on a prioritised basis in accordance with the Department’s current road maintenance standards.

“It should be noted that the Department has been operating in a challenging budgetary position for some time and that this has had an impact on all road maintenance activities and the condition of the road network.

“Only the highest priority defects are currently being repaired and unfortunately some defects will not be repaired until they meet the required intervention level.”