NI's crumbling roads: Fix pothole plague, says MP in new petition demanding Minister 'stops making excuses and starts delivering results'
A new bid to fix crumbling and damaged roads across Northern Ireland has been launched by DUP MP Carla Lockhart.
The Upper Bann politician kickstarted a new petition calling on the person in charge of the province’s run-down roads network, Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins, to prioritise maintenance as well as regular inspections to make sure small defects don’t turn into big problems for motorists.
Demanding the minister “get her house in order”, Ms Lockhart described road maintenance as “a core responsibility of government”, and added: “It is time to stop making excuses and start delivering results.”
The petition on Change.org, which has already garnered more than 1,500 signatures, insists the Minister needs to prioritise cash for road repair, stating: “Roads across Northern Ireland are in an unacceptable state – potholes and crumbling surfaces are not just inconvenient, they’re dangerous.”
Just within her own constituency, said Ms Lockhart, the MP hears daily tales of woe from furious members of the public whose cars have been damaged by a trip around the area’s defective highways and byways.
“They are dealing with burst tyres, cracked windscreens, damaged suspensions and dangerous driving conditions,” she said. “This is not just inconvenient, it is dangerous and wholly unacceptable.”
She pointed to recent statistics showing that more than twice as many compensation claims for road-related vehicle damage were filed over the last year than in 2019, while in a five-year period over £25m has been paid out to motorists as a result of them hitting potholes or other defects.
And in 2024, around 119,000 potholes were reported across Northern Ireland.
“All of this while routine maintenance budgets continue to be slashed,” said Ms Lockhart, who puts the blame directly at one person’s door – the Infrastructure Minister.
She said: “This situation is not the fault of staff on the ground, who are working incredibly hard with limited resources. Responsibility for this lies squarely at the door of the minister.
"It is the minister who must step up, show leadership, and provide the investment and direction needed to restore our roads to a safe standard.
“Road maintenance is not a luxury. It is a core responsibility of government. Safe, reliable infrastructure is vital for communities, for business, and for basic public safety. The current approach is not working, and it is time for change.
“That is why I have launched a petition calling on the minister to get her house in order and prioritise road repairs. It is time to stop making excuses and start delivering results.”
The crumbling state of Northern Ireland’s roads has increasingly become a hot-button issue in recent years, though when challenged over spending Infrastructure officials regularly plead poverty.
But the amount of their budget allocated to maintenance and how it’s assigned across Northern Ireland has also proved controversial.
For several years, repair cash has been handed out according to the total length of main roads in a given district, not on how busy those roads are or how much wear and tear they endure.
The result is that built-up urban and suburban areas with heavy traffic, such as Belfast and its surrounding towns, tend to get much less maintenance money than rural regions in the south and west of the province. When challenged, officials have said this a fair criteria to use.