Sinn Fein catious welcome for £12m additional roads maintenance funding

West Tyrone Sinn Fein Assembly Election Candidate Claire Mc Gill says that the announcement today by Regional Development Minister David Cairns that an additional £12 million will be provided in the Road Services overall structural maintenance budget of £65m for 2006/7, is to be welcomed but in reality only represents the re-instating the finances that were stripped from the road maintenance budget in this present financial year.
She said,
“It is clear that for some time time now that funding for capital roads investments has been taken from maintenance budgets. Despite the best efforts of local roads service personnel, trying to work within the untenable budgetary constraints imposed upon them, people in rural areas have witnessed a marked reduction in the level of maintenance being carried out to roads in their areas as a result of drastic budget cuts imposed by the Direct Rule Administration in recent years.

“Elected representatives, particularly in the areas west of the Bann worst affected by these cuts, have been lobbying along with the Quarry Products Association to have these cuts reversed. “I welcome today’s announcement that an additional £12m funding is to be allocated primarily towards the much-needed resurfacing of roads. However, given that so many rural roads are now in such a state of utter disrepair due to the neglect imposed by the Direct Rule administration, the amount of additional funding allocated falls far short of what is needed, particularly when one considers that it still has to be sub-allocated to the different road service divisions.