Call for roads overhaul before four-day Balmoral Show

Calls have been made for Sinn Fein ministers to 'get their acts in gear' to have the roads network fully operational for next year's Balmoral Show.

By The Newsroom

Published 5th Jun 2016, 13:49 BST

Updated 5th Jun 2016, 15:32 BST

Lagan Valley MLA Jenny Palmer, who was recently appointed the UUP’s spokesperson on infrastructure, threw down the gauntlet to the Sinn Fein ministers for Finance and Infrastructure, after the organisers of the annual Balmoral Show revealed it will be a four-day event from 2017.

She said: “While Balmoral Show is quite rightly recognised as one of the premier shows, not just in Northern Ireland, but right across the United Kingdom, and the move to the Maze site has been a huge success for Ulster’s agricultural industry, that move has brought a roads network nightmare.

“The country roads around the Maze simply cannot cope with the volume of traffic and this year many media outlets carried horrendous stories of folk waiting hours to get out of the car parks.”