Government blamed for poor rural roads

THE Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has claimed that years of underfunding by the British Government means it can only repair rural roads which are riddled with the ‘highest priority defects’.

Recently, fresh tarmac was poured upon Gortin’s Main Street, prompting Sinn Féin’s West Tyrone election candidate Órfhlaith Begley to welcome the resurfacing work.

However, DfI has intimated that, though they were able to make improvements to Gortin’s busiest thoroughfare, there are many other roads across the county that will remain in a state of disrepair.

Speaking to the UlsterHerald earlier this week, a DfI spokesperson said, “The recent road works undertaken in Gortin included full depth reconstruction and road strengthening works.

“Routine inspections identified the need for maintenance works at this location.

“Previous resurfacing works along the Main Street had been undertaken by the Department in 2017.

“The Department inspects and maintains the network in accordance with our limited service maintenance policy, which is the result of significant budget shortfalls over the past number of years, due to over a decade of underfunding by the British Government. This means that we will be continuing to repair only the highest priority defects.”

Explaining how the Department makes decisions regarding which roads to allocate resources to, a spokesperson said, “In addition to the repair of road defects, resurfacing schemes are prioritised on the basis of road usage, general surface condition, defect cluster analysis, structural deformation, public enquiries and public liability claims. These programmes are subsequently presented by DfI officials to the various district councils at their autumn meetings.

“The Department would always like to complete more work on our rural road network but, due to underfunding by the British Government, the budget we currently receive is not sufficient to address the increasing number of rural roads in need of resurfacing work.”

Responding to the remedial work performed on the rural infrastructure on Gortin Main Street, election candidate Ms Begley said, “I welcome the resurfacing of Gortin Main Street. Sinn Féin has tirelessly lobbied Road Service to prioritise this work.

“Our offices had been inundated with complaints.”