Sinn Féin MLA Liz Kimmins has expressed frustration that road resurfacing will be further delayed in a number of areas despite millions of pounds of money being unspent as a result of a legal challenge. 

The Newry and Armagh MLA stated: 

“Road resurfacing in the four council areas of Newry Mourne and Down, Mid Ulster; Derry and Strabane; and Omagh is being delayed due to a legal challenge. 

“£120 million structural maintenance was available thanks to the allocations from Finance Minister Conor Murphy, however now the structural maintenance budget has fallen to around £80 million.

“Many of our roads are already in an unacceptable condition and much-needed investment into our network has been delayed, including in my own constituency. 

“The Department is developing plans to try and increase spend. However, priority resurfacing projects in these council areas are likely to have to wait until next year for works to commence.

“At the Infrastructure Committee I have called for much-needed investment to tackle our roads surfaces as a matter of priority. 

“I will continue to call for barriers to repairing our roads to be resolved so our local roads can get much desperately needed investment.”