Debate contribution: Infrastructure: Castlereagh South

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 21 October 2025.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

21 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Infrastructure: Castlereagh South

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5197827

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I thank Kate Nicholl for securing the Adjournment debate. Kate, it is great to have you back in the Chamber, and I hope that all your babies are doing well after your short maternity leave. I thank all Members who contributed. Their passion and heart for the area are evident. I am familiar with the area, as I previously worked in Knockbracken Healthcare Park when I started out as a social worker. I have some familiarity with the area, albeit from a number of years ago. I welcome the chance to address you all on improving infrastructure in Castlereagh South. As many of you said, the area plays a vital role in the wider Belfast metropolitan area, and its infrastructural needs reflect the urban and rural challenges due its being located near Belfast and other areas that come into play. Castlereagh South encompasses a very diverse and growing community, as all Members strongly highlighted, including areas such as Carryduff, Knockbracken, Newtownbreda and Four Winds. It is served by the key strategic routes, including the A24 and the A7. Those routes are essential for connectivity, commerce and daily life. I recognise just how busy all those routes are and the impact that they can have on the local community. As Minister, I am committed to ensuring that the people of Castlereagh South benefit from safe, sustainable and well-maintained infrastructure. The significant funding challenges that my Department faces are well rehearsed, and I know that Members are overly familiar with them, as am I. We know of the budget of £68 million for structural maintenance, which is, I think, a third of what is required to do what we need to do this year. That includes resurfacing, surface dressing, drainage and verge stabilisation. Some of the schemes that have recently been completed in Castlereagh South include those at Purdysburn Road, Ballynagarrick Road and Mealough Road, which were mentioned this afternoon. We are targeting investment at rural roads and prioritising those with high-risk defects to predominantly protect public safety. However, I recognise the frustration that is caused by potholes — we are all familiar with that issue — and deteriorating road surfaces. I am committed to finding ways to improve our road network as much as possible.

Looking ahead, my Department is preparing the eastern transport plan. That plan, which will cover five council areas, including Lisburn and Castlereagh, aims to rebalance the transport network in favour of more sustainable modes of transport: walking, cycling and public transport. Public engagement on the Belfast city centre and metropolitan area proposals is expected to take place early next year. As I mentioned, Castlereagh South falls within the metropolitan area. I encourage Members and their constituents to participate in that process to shape the future of transport in their community. It is obvious from the debate this afternoon that people want to have their say and that they have good ideas and suggestions on what will meet their needs in the community. Many Members mentioned active travel, which is, as you know, a central part of our infrastructure vision. Officials are reviewing the submissions received during the public consultation on the active travel delivery plan earlier this year, and I hope to be in a position to publish the final plan by the end of the year. In Castlereagh South, as has been mentioned, we recently completed the active travel scheme on Alderwood Hill to improve access to St Ita's Primary School. The aim is to encourage more people to walk, wheel and cycle to school by making that safer, easier and more appealing. The scheme includes the installation of pencil bollards to prevent parking on footways, which, we know, is a huge issue across the North. That will help to create safer walking corridors for pupils. We have also seen the introduction of a zebra crossing to enhance safe access to the school and the provision of an additional lay-by to support traffic progression. That scheme has been designed to integrate with a proposed Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council scheme to deliver a remote footway between Cairnshill park-and-ride and Alderwood Hill. That will provide a safe and attractive park-and-ride facility for parents, encouraging families to park away from the school gates and walk the short distance to school together. Just two weeks ago, I was in St Mary's Primary School, Greenlough, which provides a really good example of how to encourage pupils and families to park a little bit away from the school. Sorry, I mean that St Mary's on the Hill Primary School in Glengormley, not in Greenlough — that was last week — is doing something similar to what we are trying to achieve at St Ita's in Castlereagh South by making it easier for people to do that. It was so refreshing to hear some of the young people at St Mary's talk about how they are aware of the importance of doing that every day. We also heard from the principal and staff that the children are much more settled and ready for the school day because they have had a wee bit of physical activity before they come into the classroom, so the benefits increase tenfold. Members strongly emphasised the importance of the proposed Carryduff greenway. Departmental officials work closely on that with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council officials, and we have provided grant funding for the feasibility study and design of the proposed greenway. I appreciate that progress has been slow, but we are hopeful that the council's greenway investment framework will help advance that project. Future funding rounds will be available to support delivery when the council is ready to proceed. At that point, we will be more than willing to work with it to support the progress of the greenway. A number of Members referred to local road safety measures. As you will know from Question Time and debates in the Chamber and from my responses to questions for written answer, road safety is a top priority for me. The road safety strategy to 2030, which was launched by my predecessor, Minister O'Dowd, sets out strategic interventions and actions to reduce fatalities and serious injuries, including targeted campaigns, engineering improvements and collaboration with partners such as the PSNI and the emergency services. In Castlereagh South specifically, several local transport safety measures that relate to our intelligent transport systems have been or are about to be delivered. Those include traffic signal upgrades that have been completed at the Ballynahinch Road-Hillsborough Road-Church Road, Carryduff junction; the A24-Knockbracken Road junction, where the work is developer-led; and the Upper Galwally-Lesley Forestside shopping centre junction. Further work is planned to upgrade the junction of the A55 at Upper Galwally and Glencregagh Road. In addition, a new CCTV column and associated infrastructure will soon be installed at the Church Road-Comber Road-Saintfield Road junction in Carryduff. That will allow the Department to monitor live traffic, which is so important in ensuring that we can adjust signal timings dynamically. I am pleased to advise Members that that work will commence in the coming days. Those measures will enhance our ability to respond to congestion and improve journey reliability, which I know is important to many of your constituents.

We continue to assess requests for traffic-calming measures and safe crossings based on collision history and prioritisation criteria. Whilst funding constraints limit the number of schemes that we can deliver, we want to ensure that we continue to work to improve safety in areas with the greatest need. I have asked officials to prepare a paper, as Members will be aware, on permanent 20 mph speed limits in more urban areas, particularly near schools and residential areas, and also to look at national speed limits on rural roads. With regard to planning, a lot of that is for the councils, but I recognise the significant residential growth in Castlereagh South that is either under construction or going through the planning process. As the statutory consultee, my Department assesses each application to ensure that road safety and traffic progression are considered with each new development. Some of the upgrades that I mentioned around junctions are examples of how we can advise and respond appropriately to ensure that it is taken into account through the development. We work closely with developers to agree on the appropriate road infrastructure improvements to minimise the impact of new developments and improve road safety for all road users, not just motorists but pedestrians and cyclists. Work has recently been substantially completed on the A24 Saintfield Road and Knockbracken Road junction associated with the Mealough development, which has approximately 350 dwellings. We are also working with two other developers to deliver further improvements on the Saintfield Road. In addition, substantial improvements to the Ballymaconaghy Road are under way, and the redesign of the Four Winds roundabout is associated with the new developments, which are delivering a further 300 dwellings. Moving on to public transport and the Glider rapid transit service, I know that all Members have consistently been lobbying for that, particularly given the significant housing developments in the DEA. Public transport continues to be absolutely essential for reducing congestion and promoting sustainability.

I will just finish this bit, with your indulgence. As Members will be aware, Translink currently operates three bus services between Belfast and Carryduff, with a combined peak frequency of 10 to 15 minutes and annual passenger journeys exceeding almost 460,000. The late-night services that we recently announced will help to address demand, with more services going in that direction. As well as that, the Glider project is moving well, and I am pleased with it. We were disappointed with the announcement back in February; however, I said that I am fully committed to seeing the full project delivered, and that remains the case. As we fully realise the project, we are keeping it under review until such time as the funding becomes available. With regard to some of the concerns around the operation of public transport, those are operational matters for Translink. However, I am happy for Members who have any specific queries to put them to me in writing.

Apologies that I did not get to answer all the questions; time has beaten me, but thank you, everyone, for the debate.

1,719 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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