A5 farmer: ‘They fenced off our land and left us in limbo’

A LOCAL farmer has hit out at the ‘contradictions’ of local politicians following the latest ruling which has again halted the A5 dual carriageway scheme.

Simon Wilson, a member of the Alternative A5 Alliance, said he was ‘surprised’ but relieved after the court quashed the latest approval for the controversial road.

“I think most of us were surprised because we didn’t think it was going to go our way this time, but we have all had a sigh of relief after the decision,” he said.

“We have been sitting in absolute limbo this past six months – not knowing what work we can do or if we were going to keep our land.”

Mr Wilson said the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) had already divided up some of his land in anticipation of work going ahead.

“They fenced off a lot of my land and had started working on other people’s land, digging up the ground. I don’t know what’s going to happen but maybe they’ll start working on fixing their mess,” he added.

“Everyone will be looking for compensation now because the loss of income and usage plus whatever mess they’ve made has to be fixed and whatever fences have been put up will have to be taken down.”

He also criticised local politicians for what he called ‘contradictions’ in their messaging.

“I think the politicians that are upset are completely contradicting themselves. They were all obsessed about net-zero, and now they can’t get the road built. They’ll change whatever suits them and cost everybody money.

“Maybe now they’ll get on with upgrading the original A5 instead of pushing to build a new road,” he added.

Ulster Farmers’ Union deputy president John McLenaghan said many questions would now be put to the DfI and called for urgent engagement with landowners.

“The DfI has caused deep frustration and unnecessary stress for so many farm families,” he said.

“It’s crucial that work begins without delay to return vested land to its original state pre-vesting, fairly compensating affected farmers and landowners for the significant disruption to their businesses.”

He said the UFU supported improved infrastructure and safety, but warned that farmers and landowners had been left ‘in limbo’ for more than a decade.

Mr McLenaghan also noted that the judge in the ruling found that the DoI’s plans failed to meet climate change targets set by the Executive.

He added that while the UFU had consistently warned the targets were flawed and unrealistic, a majority of MLAs had still voted for them, ignoring the advice of the independent Climate Change Committee.