Debate contribution: Traffic Flow in Newtownards

Debate contribution by Miss Michelle McIlveen on 25 November 2025.

MLA

Miss Michelle McIlveen

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

25 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Traffic Flow in Newtownards

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5259309

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. First, I thank the Minister for attending this evening. In debates such as these, I do not like to just come to the Chamber with a list of problems to complain about. Where there are solutions, I want to outline them and hope that they can perhaps be taken forward. I put on record my appreciation to the Minister's predecessor for the action that he took as a result of my previous Adjournment debate on the dangers of the Portaferry Road. Where he could, he directed a number of key projects to be actioned. Those included safety measures and, importantly, the upgrading of the footpath between Teal Rocks and Old Shore Road. That is evidence that Adjournment debates such as these can deliver where there is a solution-based ask and a Minister willing to take the necessary action. I take this opportunity to highlight a number of pinch points in the town that are only going to worsen as Newtownards and Comber continue to expand. First and foremost, there is the congestion on the Comber Road and Messines Road as traffic tails back from the Comber Road roundabout in the town. Despite responses coming from the Minister regarding those issues, the traffic is constant at all times of the day, every day of the week. A Sunday afternoon could be as bad as a Monday afternoon. Peak times are even worse, with queues on the Comber Road and traffic at a standstill halfway down the dual carriageway. Queues on Messines Road stretch three quarters of the length of that road. Both roads meet at the Comber Road roundabout at Castlebawn. The impact is not just on waiting times for those commuting to or through Newtownards. Those living off Cambourne Road and Lansdowne Road and in the West Winds estate struggle to get in and out of where they live with the constant stream of traffic. It is a particular problem for parents dropping children off at West Winds Primary School in the morning. Lines of cars waiting to leave West Winds in the morning are commonplace at drop-off time. The requests by the school leadership for an alternative access point have fallen on deaf ears at DFI's southern division. I previously requested a meeting with departmental officials from the southern division, but that was refused because a review had been undertaken in 2021. A traffic survey that I requested for traffic lights at the junction with Blenheim Drive was to be carried out, but we are yet to find out whether that has taken place or what the results are. Certainly, West Winds residents have advised that they have seen no evidence of a survey taking place. I have asked the Minister a number of questions about traffic flow at that location, but, disappointingly, I was told that there were no plans. I have asked whether there are plans to widen the Messines Road, but, according to the Minister, there are no such plans. I have asked for traffic lights at the offending roundabout, but there are no plans to consider that either. There seems to be a belief that the traffic flow at that location is normal, but it is not. Anyone who is familiar with the area will know that it is not and that it has become a daily problem in the past few years. It appears that the Department is placing its trust in a partial dualling proposal that is attached to planning at the former Crepe Weavers site. Multiple grants of planning permission have been made since 2013, however, with no progress made on upgrading the road. The delay is reminiscent of how the Department was waiting for a developer to upgrade the path on the Portaferry Road. Eventually, the Department had to step in because the work was not happening. It would appear that the sums do not seem to be adding up for the developer in this case. Whether such a dualling would be of any real effect is arguable, anyway. It may be of assistance for those who are entering and leaving the site, but I do not see how it will improve the existing problems. We need to look at upgrading the roundabout. It is not just about road markings at the roundabout, because that has not solved the problem. There needs to be some real investment at the location. There are considerable problems coming down the road, if you will pardon the pun. The Department has passed planning for 1,000 homes at Enler Village in Comber, and it is not unreasonable to assume that a number of those residents will travel down the road to or through Newtownards to schools or to their jobs. If the former Crepe Weavers site is developed or the other areas along the Comber Road, which are zoned for development, are built out, that will compound the current difficulties. It is better to act now than wait for the inevitable. The alternative route, which more people are now taking because of the traffic problems, is along the Killynether Road and the Scrabo Road. Those roads are narrow and winding and are totally unsuitable for heavy traffic. The last thing that needs to happen is additional traffic being forced along those roads because nothing was done to address the problems on the Comber Road. We should also be considering where the traffic is coming from and where it is going to, if it is not going into Newtownards. We know that a significant portion of that traffic is going down the Ards peninsula. There are many cogent arguments for a bridge from Portaferry to Strangford, thereby diverting unnecessary traffic going through Newtownards. That is a factor that should be taken into consideration. Newtownards is the gateway to the Ards peninsula, and many people drive through the town in order to travel to the other side of Strangford lough rather than use the ferry. A bridge could remove that unnecessary traffic from the roads of Newtownards. I ask the Minister to look into the economic feasibility of such a scheme and potential sources of funding for it, which would not only benefit Newtownards but be transformational for the Ards peninsula by massively improving connectivity. There are a number of other pinch points around the town that need to be addressed, and I want to consider those next. The first is the Zion Place roundabouts and, in particular, the junction with Frances Street. Zion Place has been identified as a problem for some time. The eastern distributor road is being built by developers as part of the expansion of the town at Beverley Garden Village, Rivenwood and Ballyreagh. That scheme, it is hoped, will divert traffic away from the centre of Newtownards, and I will come back to that. The eastern distributor road is a number of years away from completion. In the meantime, traffic grinds to a halt from about 4.00 pm each day at the top of Frances Street, as cars try to exit on to Zion Place. That is a particular problem for buses, and I have spoken to Translink about it. It causes Translink real difficulties in providing reliable services. One solution that has been suggested is to widen the top of Frances Street to allow for a bus lane. That would result in the loss of a couple of parking spaces at the top of the road but could free up the movement of traffic at that location. I have raised that matter with DFI Roads, but it is not minded to look at it again, because, previously, it received some objections. The traffic, however, has worsened, and I respectfully ask the Minister to request that her officials look at that suggestion again as a means to improve public transport through the town.

Returning to the eastern distributor road, it is envisaged that the scheme will link the Bangor Road with the Donaghadee Road, the Movilla Road and, ultimately, the Portaferry Road. That will mean that traffic can avoid Newtownards town centre, however it will result in a significant increase in traffic on the Bangor Road in Newtownards. There will not just be the current level of traffic, because developers will be building in and around 1,200 new homes. If that increased traffic is going to end up on the Bangor Road, where will it go? The North Road in the town is already heavily congested in the mornings. This morning, for example, cars were nose to tail for over three quarters of its length. That is before any traffic has been diverted from the town centre. There needs to be an assessment of the potential impact on that road and what can be done to address the consequences of building the distributor road and that additional development. A further pinch point is the roundabout at the Portaferry Road and the stretch of the Portaferry Road that runs from that roundabout to the junction with New Road. Roundabouts appear to be continuing theme as either a symptom or a cause of problems for the town. We need an assessment of traffic flow in the town, with a range of solutions to improve that flow. There was a Newtownards town centre sustainable transport working group, which brought together a range of stakeholders with a view to a pilot scheme being adopted for the town around active travel and modal shift. That group considered a number of options that may have assisted in alleviating a number of the problems that I have raised, but, sadly, it stopped meeting in June 2022. The Minister has confirmed, in response to questions that I have asked, that there is no intention of reviving the group, as the Department has decided to work on a regional plan. However, the Department did not tell any of the stakeholders that that was its plan. That was a missed opportunity not just for Newtownards but for the Department to learn from a pilot scheme. I ask the Minister to revisit that decision. The final roads issue that I will raise is that of the Movilla Road. There is a recurrent issue with parking around Abbey Primary School. Cars park along both sides of the road and around the residential area. The cars parked there obscure the views of drivers as well as impact on traffic flow along the road. I have raised that with the local office and the divisional office. A scheme has been developed to include sight realignment of the road, the installation of parking bays and much-needed resurfacing. That needs to happen, but, given the funding calculations for my constituency, we are falling short of what we need, even for issues such as this, which involve the safety of schoolchildren going to and from school. I ask that that be looked at and that funding be made available for that important scheme. I am pleased that there has been progress on the Newtownards park-and-ride. That is an important piece of the transport jigsaw for the town. I and my brother, who is a councillor for the town, have worked alongside Translink on it for a number of years. I hope that, once the business case is with the Minister, we will see a quick funding decision and the project progress. Progress on the Comber park-and-ride would also greatly help. I appreciate that a site on Belfast Road has been identified, but progress seems to be slow on that. We need to offer alternatives to the car. Investment in public transport, as well as recurrent support for our public transport providers, is key to making it an attractive alternative. There are a number of key issues in Newtownards that need to be addressed. Newtownards and Comber are both expanding towns. That is causing traffic flow problems for Newtownards that will only worsen as more houses are built. We are already seeing problems at Comber Road, Frances Street, North Road, Portaferry Road and Zion Place. There needs to be a focused and coherent plan to address forthcoming issues as well as the current problem. I ask that the following be looked at again: re-establishment of the Newtownards town centre sustainable travel working group; swift progress on the Newtownards and Comber park-and-ride facilities; funding for the Movilla Road scheme; a focused, Department-led scheme to address the particular problems of Comber Road and Messines Road; a feasibility study on having a bridge between Portaferry and Strangford; assessment of the potential impact on North Road of the eastern distributor road and the development associated with that scheme; and, last but not least, a bus lane scheme for Frances Street. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response now that we have done a canter around Newtownards and to having the opportunity to meet officials to look at those options.

2,140 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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