Debate contribution: Traffic Flow in Newtownards

Debate contribution by Mr Harry Harvey on 25 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Harry Harvey

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 5259318

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank my party colleague and fellow Strangford MLA Michelle McIlveen for securing this important Adjournment debate. For many years, she has worked tirelessly to raise the issue of traffic flow across Newtownards, and I pay tribute to her for continuing to battle the Department on the matter. Anyone who lives and works in Newtownards, or, indeed, anyone who has had the pleasure of visiting that beautiful market town, will be aware of the traffic pressures being experienced at all times of the day but particularly at peak periods and on Saturdays. Over recent years, Newtownards has seen a huge increase in the number of chimney pots, with large numbers of out-of-town residential developments springing up. Although development is to be welcomed, and although the town has inevitably benefited economically from increased footfall, pressure on the town's infrastructure has continued to build, with little or no response from the Department. Residents find themselves in gridlock daily, spending unacceptable amounts of time sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic merely to get around the town, let alone to go through it. The Comber Road and Castlebawn roundabouts have already been mentioned in the debate. It is not an exaggeration to say that that area of the town comes to a complete standstill every weekday, with queues along the Messines Road often tailing back to the main A20 dual carriageway. Journey times, particularly for those from Belfast coming to and from the peninsula, have continued to increase in recent years. Despite that, the Department has been unable to come up with any meaningful solutions to alleviate the traffic congestion that motorists experience daily. In her response to a question for written answer dated June of this year, the Minister stated:

"My Department is aware that traffic can build up on the Messines Road, Newtownards for short periods at peak times which is consistent with traffic patterns and conditions in many of [sic] towns and cities across the North."

Such a statement fails to appreciate the enormity of the congestion that manifests for significantly long periods, not "short periods at peak times". Yes, I am happy to give way to the Member.

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Member for her very useful intervention. It is not acceptable that the main arterial route to facilitate the bypassing of the town remains a single carriageway, with no traffic management solutions being proposed, despite the congestion that that is causing for the Newtownards community. Although we all appreciate the departmental budgeting constraints at this time and thus do not expect miracles, the Newtownards community does not find it acceptable that absolutely nothing has been achieved. Nothing has even been attempted by the Minister's Department to address the issues. In other parts of the town, road safety continues to be a concern for many. Along with colleagues in this place, I have, for several years, been highlighting the issue of pedestrian safety at Teal Rocks specifically and motorist safety along the Portaferry Road more generally. It is shameful that DFI officials have been unable to reduce the national speed limit along that section of road, which is used by schoolchildren to board school buses. I call again on the Minister to rethink the Department's position on that issue in particular. It is an issue that everyone in the Chamber and, indeed, every councillor has submitted a request about. Residents, traders and visitors are all calling on the Minister to intervene and to work with the local community to establish what can be done to ease an ever-increasing problem. The long-awaited park-and-ride facility will be of immense benefit, but it cannot be viewed as a silver bullet.

We must see the road network improvements that will support transport resilience for the future, and I trust that the Minister will act for the benefit of Newtownards. I also look forward to her exploration of the idea of a Strangford/Portaferry bridge.

653 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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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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