Written question AQW 48293/22-27
Written question by Mr John Stewart on .
- MLA
- Mr John Stewart
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 9 June 2026
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 48293/22-27
- Department
- Department for Infrastructure
- Business
- To the Minister for Infrastructure
- Assembly identifier
- Document 489336
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail (i) the number of complaints relating to (a) grass cutting; (b) verge maintenance; (c) overgrown vegetation; and (d) visibility concerns, received by her Department's Mid and East Antrim Section Office, during the last 12 months; (ii) whether she has commissioned, or intends to commission, a review of the Department's grass cutting and verge maintenance policy; (iii) any measures that are used to assess whether the biodiversity benefits of reduced grass cutting outweigh (a) road safety; (b) visibility; and (c) amenity concerns; and (iv) whether additional funding will be allocated to grass cutting and verge maintenance programmes, during the 2026-27 financial year.
109 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.95).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 07:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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