Fixing pot-holed road a ‘priority – but no money to do the work

A Mountfield road has been highlighted as a ‘priority’ for resurfacing – but there is no money to carry out the much-needed repairs.

The junction of the Lenagh Road and Inishclan Road on the outskirts of the village is badly damaged, with large potholes causing problems for motorists travelling along the rural road.

The majority of the damage is believed to have been caused by the number of lorries using a nearby quarry.

The state of the road was highlighted this week at the Northern Ireland Assembly following a question from West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan.

The SDLP representative asked the Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmons, to detail the work her department was undertaking to improve the roads network around Mountfield.

In response, Ms Kimmons highlighted the financial pressures faced by her department.

“Unfortunately, as a result of budgetary constraints, my department has had to introduce a limited service maintenance policy over the past number of years meaning that only the highest priority road defects are repaired.

“This underfunding has resulted in a deteriorating road network.

“The condition of the roads in the Mountfield area are reflective of the historical underinvestment in our road infrastructure and, unfortunately, the condition of these roads are similar to many rural roads in the area.

“With regards to roads maintenance, my department is heavily reliant on in-year funding to carry out road repairs and react to deteriorating roads over the winter period. Unfortunately, due to other budgetary constraints no additional monies were able to be allocated to road maintenance activities from the recent January monitoring round.”

The Infrastructure Minister said while there was no resurfacing work being undertaken at present, her officials were aware the junction of Lenagh Road and Inishclan Road has been identified as a ‘resurfacing priority due to heavy plant accessing the local quarry’.

“This section is currently in a proposed programme to be considered when funding becomes available.

“In the meantime, my department will continue to complete their inspection of roads in the Mountfield area in line with our limited service policy and action any defects that meet the threshold for repair.”