Pothole apocalypse warning for Mid Ulster roads

Ruptured, crumbling roads, defunct street lighting, blocked road gullies and motorists’ lives put at risk - that’s the dire prediction for Mid Ulster’s network of rural roads.

At Thursday’s monthly meeting of the new council, councillors passed a motion calling on Roads Minister Danny Kennedy to outline how he was going to ensure basic roads maintenance services in the Mid Ulster area in the light of drastic cuts to the budget.

Last month, the UUP minister warned that the repair of potholes could be affected as a result of £60m being cut from his departmental budget over the next year.

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He said: “As it stands my budget does not provide for sufficient service provision in areas like repair of potholes and traffic lights and other measures such as gully emptying and grass cutting at junctions.

“As a result, TransportNI has no option other than to cut back on the routine maintenance of the network. There will be no funding available for external contractors to carry out routine road maintenance, however, the Departments’ internal workforce will be providing a skeleton service.”

Proposing the motion, Sinn Fein Councillor Ronan McGinley warned of serious flaws in local roads and the increased risk of accidents.

“We’ve a pothole about four feet wide in my own area, and I am genuinely worried that it will cause buses and lorries to go off the road.

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“Unfortunately, the response from the roads service has not been good enough.

“We also have serious street lighting concerns with the rural network not being extended, lights not replaced, no road gully emptying, and maintenance vehicles sitting idle because the minister cannot afford to put diesel in them.”

DUP Councillor Kim Ashton branded the situation ‘ridiculous’.

People are getting extremely annoyed”, she said.

Her party colleague Paul McLean remarked that the cut to the budget amounted to just 0.6% and said it was up to the minister to deliver effective services.

The motion was supported by all parties in the council chamber except the UUP.

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