Letter: A5 debacle has shown us that the NI Assembly must learn to walk before it tries to run

The latest being the completely new road failing to comply with the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 as ruled by a judge in the High Court in Belfast.

This is just another one of many instances of those in power at the NI Assembly passing legislation they fail to fully understand the consequences of as warned by the DUP, TUV and UUP at the time of the vote and for that, sadly, we in this case in the West will suffer the consequences.

It has been clear since June 2022, when the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 received Royal Assent, that any new road building in Northern Ireland could not proceed because of the new legislation.

When work commenced in November 2024 on the A5 WTC, the environmental damage being done to ancient hedgerows, trees some hundreds of years old, woods, bog, rivers and streams was clear to see and brought tears to my eyes as someone who passionately cares about the environment.

The habitat being ripped apart by digger and chainsaw, all being so valuable to many specifies of wild animals, birds, insects and invertebrates, plants and vegetation - many on endangered lists. Not to mention the taking of farmers’ livelihoods by the vesting of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land, weed killing crops in the fields at a time when we need farmers to grow more food to increase food security at a time of world instability.

We all agree the A5 needs major improvements, but the case has never been made for a completely new road in the first place. The assembly needs to learn to walk before it can run, as in this case. To meet environmental targets, why was putting a rail line along the current road not considered?

Eighteen years since the road was proposed, not one foot has been actually built. Surely it would have been much better to undertake work on the most dangerous sections to improve them - this would be achievable and greatly improve safety on the road while minimising environment damage.

Stevan Patterson, Castlederg