Member's statement: Roads: Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
Member's statement by Mr Gareth Wilson on .
- MLA
- Mr Gareth Wilson
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 13 October 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Roads: Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5789455
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to highlight the worsening condition of the road network across the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council (ABC) area and the growing consequences of the failure of the Infrastructure Minister to get to grips with that crisis. Nobody who travels on the roads needs to be convinced that there is a serious problem, whether commuters travelling to work, farmers moving machinery, businesses delivering goods or families simply going about their daily lives. People encounter deteriorating road surfaces and dangerous potholes every day. What is particularly concerning, however, is that we now have the figures that demonstrate the scale of the problem. The Department's statistics show that pothole-related claims across the ABC area have risen from 237 in 2021-22 to 1,687 in 2025-26. That represents an increase of more than 600% in just five years. Perhaps the most startling figure is that more than one in four of the pothole claims made in Northern Ireland during the last financial year came from the ABC area. The consequences extend beyond the frustration experienced by motorists. Over the past five years, public liability claim expenditure across the ABC East and West DFI Roads section areas exceeded £4·4 million, money that ultimately comes from the public purse and could be directed towards improving public services and investing in our infrastructure. I fully recognise the challenges posed by years of underinvestment in the road network, but the Infrastructure Minister cannot simply point to historical difficulties while conditions continue to worsen on her watch. Road maintenance is a core responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure. The public expect roads to be maintained to a safe and reasonable standard and defects to be repaired before they develop into hazards capable of causing damage and generating costly claims. It is unacceptable that road defects are permitted by inaction to get so deep and cause damage so severe that a motorist is stranded by the side of the road. It is similarly unacceptable when a motorist may have reported that same defect through the Department's reporting system on multiple occasions. I am aware of holes remaining unfixed for so long that they generated £7,000 in wheel damage claims before belatedly being repaired. A sum of £4·4 million would fix a lot of roads, and I urge the Minister to get to grips with what is a spiralling situation in her constituency.
395 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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