Debate contribution: Road Infrastructure: Ballykelly and Kilrea

Debate contribution by Mr Peter McReynolds on 27 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Peter McReynolds

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

27 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Road Infrastructure: Ballykelly and Kilrea

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5345626

Read the official Assembly record

Text

As a member of the Infrastructure Committee, I welcome the opportunity to acknowledge the road infrastructure issues at Ballykelly and Kilrea. I thank the constituency MLAs for their contributions and insight into the Adjournment debate. I am an East Belfast MLA, so I have taken instruction from colleagues and elected reps from the area. The Infrastructure Committee continues to hear about repeated delays in road infrastructure works, which cause significant frustration to road users whilst affecting road safety and journeys for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Yesterday, it was reported that there has already been an overspend on this project, whilst creating an extended impact on businesses and locals trying to go about their day, as mentioned by my Infrastructure Committee colleague Mr Stewart. From the outset of major projects, what we need from the Department are clear information and timelines to ensure that obstruction is kept to a minimum. I welcome the fact that the Minister for Infrastructure has made herself available for the debate. As chair of the all-party group on active travel and road safety, I am in full support of the implementation of active travel routes. However, I do question the prioritisation of routes. That is why I have worked closely with the active travel community to ensure that propensity to cycle is incorporated in rolling out routes for maximum benefit and uptake. The best way to encourage active travel is, first, to ensure safety in places where we know that the routes are more likely to be used. Unfortunately, my difficulty in the justification of such a major scheme creating such significant disruption is that, to my knowledge, no cycling or pedestrian count surveys were undertaken, so little is known about the potential uptake of a route that is causing much grievance for residents. That only adds to the dissatisfaction when the works are complete and the benefits are not immediately visible. As Ms Hunter said, that is why the Department must communicate transparently with locals to ensure appropriate traffic management so that the impact is limited. We saw something similar in my East Belfast constituency during the introduction of the Glider. Significant disruption was caused, leading to posters with slightly colourful language appearing in some shops. Thankfully, I have not seen one of those in years, and the Glider is now simply part of the furniture, bridging east and west Belfast, with passenger journeys up, and active travel projects such as the Connswater community greenway now established and thriving just down the road from my constituency office. Active travel brings so much to each community where we can implement it. However, strategic planning and execution by the Department must be timely and cost-effective. I encourage the Minister to ensure that every penny spent on active travel is proven to be a conduit for progress rather than a guessing game for success. I look forward to her feedback today.

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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