‘Limited’ repairs to continue for Tyrone roads

ROAD quality across Tyrone can be expected to further deteriorate this year, as the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) faces a potentially disastrous £58million budget shortfall.

A senior DfI official has said that, while it is estimated that this year it would cost £143million to keep the North’s roads in ‘reasonable condition’, the road service’s 2023-2024 maintenance budget is only £85million.

This year the department faces a 14 per-cent reduction in its 2023-24 resource budget allocation when compared to that of 2022-2023.

This constrained budget means the department is unable to fill posts that are becoming vacant through retirements and other departures, and has left them no choice but to cut back on defect repairs, such as filling potholes and emptying gullies.

In a letter to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, DfI’s Transport and Road Asset Management Deputy Secretary, Colin Woods, said, “Significant action has been taken to reduce spending across all areas, and fares and other charges have been increased to help sustain essential services. Having done all of that, the department is still facing a large funding gap against its resource budget allocation.”

He went on to acknowledge that the impact of these budgetary challenges included potential reductions to winter service provision, road maintenance and flood risk management.

“Due to the department’s budget position, we have had to take the decision to continue with a limited service on road maintenance activities such as defect repairs, like potholes, and gully emptying.

“At this stage,” said Mr Woods, “it is planned that winter service will continue as before, though a large volume of vacancies and the impact of industrial action could place that service under additional strain.”

At one point during his correspondence, Mr Woods adopted an unusually personal tone and said, “With over 400 vacancies in my group alone, you will appreciate how this impedes our ability to offer the level of services that we would wish across the full range of responsibilities.”