Sinn Féin MLA Liz Kimmins today raised concerns on the continuing deterioration of the rural road network in the north and the need for investment  to benefit rural communities.

The Newry and Armagh MLA said:

“It is no secret that rural roads across the north are in poor condition. Potholes are damaging people’s vehicles and have left rural communities completely frustrated.

“My colleague Chris Hazzard when Infrastructure Minister launched a £10 million rural roads initiative to target 1,000 roads for improvement.

“This greatly benefited my own area, where many people had felt that their community was left behind in regard to road maintenance.

“A legacy of this initiative is the Roads Recovery Fund, which spent £25 million in two years improving many rural roads. Of course these measures are welcome but more should be done at this time.

“I have written to the current Infrastructure minister on the need to build on the work of her predecessor and further invest in a Roads Recovery Fund to improve the quality of rural roads across the north.

“This is a relatively low-cost initiative that can mean a lot for rural constituencies. We need to ensure rural needs are being properly addressed if we want to develop our society and economy in a fair and balanced way.”