Major road projects worth £190m blocked while Sinn Fein minister appeals A5 verdict: Red light for long-delayed Enniskillen, Belfast and A1 schemes pending court case
Major road improvement projects worth over £190m in total have been given a red light by the Infrastructure Minister, until a court case aimed at pushing through the unrelated A5 scheme is heard.
Sinn Fein’s Liz Kimmins has paused three projects meant to boost roads around Enniskillen, Belfast and the A1 between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland, arguing they can’t go ahead until an appeal hoped to reverse last year’s refusal of the A5 revamp is finished.
Two of the halted projects have been on the cards for 20 years and were hoped to get properly under way in the next few months, but are now potentially facing yet more delays.
On hold are the A4 Enniskillen Bypass, the Lagan Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge, and the A1 junctions improvement scheme.
Enniskillen’s £36m project is to build a 1.3-mile road to the south of the Co Fermanagh town including bridges across two rivers, reducing traffic jams in the heart of Enniskillen itself and improving journey times for drivers as well as improving safety by adding overtaking lanes, plus a cycleway and pedestrian crossings.
Costed at £23m to £28m, the Lagan Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge is to be a major addition to the south of Belfast close to the city centre. It’s designed to link Ormeau Embankment with the former site of the capital’s old gasworks, now offices and commercial development. First suggested more than 10 years ago, around half of its funding comes from the Belfast City Region Deal – a time-limited cash pot that expires in a decade.
Priced at between £120m and £130m, the A1 scheme is to rework junctions on 15 miles of a dual carriageway between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland. On the cards since 2006 but repeatedly delayed, it’s to add important safety features such as new flyover intersections while closing gaps in its central reservation.
But the minister says none of them can go ahead until attempts to overturn a court refusal of the controversial A5 project are dealt with.
Last summer the Department for Infrastructure was blocked from reworking the 58-mile A5, which runs from Londonderry to the border with Co Monaghan, after a judge ruled its plans did not comply with climate change targets. Ms Kimmins has described that verdict as “hugely disappointing”.
Answering questions from MLA Diane Dodds in the Assembly, she insisted the appeal has “far-reaching implications for all major infrastructure projects”. She added she extended tendering processes for the Enniskillen Bypass and Lagan Bridge to “ensure these schemes can remain live until the final judgment", while her officials are now “preparing options” to protect the A1 junctions project.
But Mrs Dodds feels failures over the A5 don’t justify putting the brakes on other vital improvements, telling the News Letter: “This is even more of a piecemeal approach than the minister takes towards potholes on our roads.
“We see her scrambling to deal with problems but refusing to tackle the root cause. It’s one thing to claim that you are committed to delivering projects but it’s another thing entirely to take some meaningful action to make that happen.
“The A5 appeal has brought home the reality of unrealistic and unachievable targets being introduced into legislation. Despite warnings at the time that such targets would inevitably hit infrastructure projects, some chose to press ahead regardless.”