Rates rebate for unadopted roads call

He made the call following the latest meeting of the Environmental Regeneration Committee Meeting, which was attended by members of DRD officials.

“I raised this issue in September last year,” he said. “There are quite a number of unadopted roads in the new amalgamated council area, and thousands of people are effected by this issue.

“Roads that are not adopted do not have footpaths, a road surface and or street lighting and the council does not allow its lorries on them, so there is no bin collection service and people have to trail their bins to the nearest adopted road, or take it to a designated dump site.

“The economic climate has seen some developers go into administration, but it is vital to look at it from the householders’ perspective. By bringing it to the attention of the officials it is now on the map and we can work to resolve it,” he said.

“Some of these people have been living on roads which need adopted for the past 15 years. For me Wednesday’s meeting was not as fruitful as it could have been. These issues really need to be resolved. With the amalgamation of the City Council and Strabane Council we now have a vast area with thousands of people all paying their rates but not getting the services that they deserve.

“At the end of the day, in my opinion, these people should get rates relief. I know it is not up to the council, and I intend to work to bring it to the attention of central government,” he said.