Debate contribution: A5 Western Transport Corridor: Impact on Local Communities

Debate contribution by Mr Tom Buchanan on 13 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Tom Buchanan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

13 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

A5 Western Transport Corridor: Impact on Local Communities

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4948291

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Business Committee for allowing this important issue to be raised as the subject of the Adjournment debate this evening. Over the past number of years, the topic has been the subject of numerous debates in the House and a multitude of questions to the Ministers of the various Departments that are involved in the project. At the outset, I will take a moment to remember all those who, unfortunately, lost their life on the A5 and to acknowledge the pain and suffering that their families continue to experience. The effect has been widespread and includes all who live along the route of the A5, the families that are involved and the wider rural community. Only someone who has stood in the shoes of a family that has lost a member can know the pain and suffering that they continue to experience. At the same time, however, we cannot ignore the statistical fact that 95% of the fatalities were the result of human error. I acknowledge that, had the A5 been upgraded, some of those lives might have been saved. The A5 as we know it today is a dangerous road with slow-moving traffic, increasing traffic and a lot of side roads coming on to it. A dual carriageway is a different type of road, and I have no doubt that a number of those lives might have been saved had the road been upgraded. Today I want to look at the other side of the coin, as it were, and to shine a light and focus on what I can only describe as a forgotten community with a voice that is not being listened to or taken at all seriously: the agricultural community of farm businesses that stand to lose large swathes of land to make way for the proposed A5 dual carriageway that cuts through the very centre and heart of my constituency of West Tyrone. We have a community that is suffering from mental torture and anxiety. Families have been driven to the edge of despair, and, indeed, a life has been lost as a result of the uncertainty about what the future holds for them and their business following a huge loss of land. Many such farms are third- and fourth-generation farming businesses and are losing land that fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers laboured on and worked hard to build up in order to pass down through the generations. Those farm businesses now stand to be unprofitable, with many families being forced to abandon farming altogether. Generations of expertise in farming and food production are being lost, and a huge deficit in the rural economy is being created. Can anyone in the House really comprehend what it means for a family that has worked and laboured hard to build its farm business up to then watch it slip down the plughole? None of us can really comprehend what that means. One of the major difficulties for those families is the uncertainty that they face in their lifelong business. There have been 15 years of uncertainty. I know that that is not the fault of the current Minister, previous Ministers or the House; another element has caused the 15 years of uncertainty. Six months have now passed, though, since that community's land was vested, and people still have no indication of how much they will receive for it or when that money will be forthcoming, yet they have been driven off their land. It has been fenced off, and they cannot include it in their single farm payment claim. Here we have a community that is under siege and under duress being placed in a position that some cannot and will not survive. Those families and people in that community need help and support from the House, but, folk, I do not think that that is forthcoming at present. When Mr O'Dowd was Minister for Infrastructure, my colleague in front of me and I met him on a few occasions. One of the issues was payment for lands that were vested. Mr O'Dowd assured us that it was a matter for the Minister of Finance. He is now the Minister of Finance, and I wonder what progress he has made on getting that issue taken forward and resolved so that the farmers are paid for their land. I should have said at the outset that I thank the Minister for being in her place in the Chamber. I ask her to confirm whether the appropriate finances are in place to cover the cost of the lands that were vested and whether she has had any indication of when those farmers are likely to receive the payment. How long do we expect that community to go without that financial support? Not only has the land that was vested not been paid for, but members of the farming community throughout West Tyrone have been dealt a double blow. They have lost thousands of pounds from their single farm payment, because that land cannot be included in their single farm payment application. The deafening silence from the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs about what help he can offer speaks volumes about the care and compassion towards that community. Another major concern for the farm businesses that might be able to weather the storm and survive is the rebuilding of their farm infrastructure. To date, we have seen little movement from the AERA Minister in relation to planning and his proposals, which would enable those businesses to secure planning for the redevelopment of their farm infrastructure as and when it is required. I have questioned the AERA Minister at Committee on this issue, but, as yet, I have seen no firm proposals for what he plans to do or how he intends to help and support those businesses to rebuild in the future. Minister, when it comes to your Department, it is important that there be clear communication between your staff, the contractors that are on site and the farming community. While I appreciate that your Department may be endeavouring to keep those lines of communication open, there are still quite a lot of problems and difficulties with some of the contractors on site. My office deals with such issues regularly. Of course, the elephant in the room in all of this is the ongoing court case. Should it go against the Department, what then for that community, members of which had large swathes of their prime farmland — I am going to say this — stolen from them? It has been taken from them, but it has not been paid for. Trees have been cut and hedgerows have been dug up. Contractors are on site, but the land has not been paid for. In one sense, the land does not really belong to the Government, because it still has not been paid for, and the farmers do not know what they are getting for it. Minister, the lack of clarity, the not knowing and the uncertainty in all those areas adds to the grief and anxiety of that rural community. It must be urgently addressed. Three Departments are involved in the project: the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture, and the Minister's Department for Infrastructure. Those three Departments must work together rather than in silos where the buck can be passed from one to another. That is what happens when Departments do not work together. We come and ask one Department something, and it passes it to another, saying that it is another Department or somebody else's responsibility. I trust that the three Departments will work together in delivering the project. I seek clarity from the Minister on whether any meetings between the three Departments and Ministers have taken place to seek to address the ongoing concerns of this rural farming community. Not only must the voices of the forgotten rural community be heard in the House, but its concerns must be addressed. It must receive whatever support and help it requires throughout the construction of the proposed new A5 road, should it proceed.

Minister, those are some of the issues of concern. I have no doubt that other Members will have similar or other issues to raise in their contributions. I seek an assurance from you today that the farming community, who are feeling practical and financial pain from the loss of their lifelong business, will be adequately supported by the House.

1,412 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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