Minister urged to upgrade roads

Minister urged to upgrade roads

11 June 2025

STORMONT roads minister Liz Kimmins has been asked to make finance available to upgrade the roads network across the constituency.

The appeal to the Department for Infrastructure minister has been made by South Down MLA Andy McMurray.

He is seeking reassurances from Ms Kimmins that there will be an improvement in the current state of the district’s roads with enhanced maintenance work carried out.

“Recent statistics have shown once again that Newry Mourne and Down has the worst roads in Northern Ireland on a range of indicators, including the largest number of road surface defects of all local government districts,” said Mr McMurray.

“In addition, South Down has the worst ratio of defects to road length, both of which have worsened over the past year.”

But the local Assemblyman has welcomed an acknowledgement from the roads minister that there is “significant need” in South Down. 

“This is reflected in the fact that the southern roads division receives the largest allocation of funding for road repairs, although this still isn’t enough,” Mr McMurray pointed out.

“The Minister said that her Department’s new road maintenance strategy will focus on better-quality repairs in the hope that this will lead to longer-lasting, more effective results.”

At the start of the year, Mr McMurray said the revelation that Newry, Mourne and Down had the highest number of potholes of any of Northern Ireland’s local authority areas proved local roads “were crumbling at an alarming rate”.

Almost 20,000 potholes — equating to one pothole for every six kilometres of road — were recorded across the constituency, with the total number for all 11 council areas 107,000, according to a recent CompareNI survey.

The overall total number of potholes was down around 3,000 on the previous year with the figure in Newry, Mourne and Down down by 4.5%.

Last December, it was revealed that the Department for Infrastructure shelled out almost £800,000 in compensation to local drivers whose cars were damaged by potholes last year.

The government department paid out on 90% of over 700 claims during the last financial year for incidents across the Newry, Mourne and Down area.

The CompareNI data reveals the pothole issue worsened in the neighbouring Ards and North Down council area, with a 22% year-on-year increase, rising from 5,757 to 7,003, while in Belfast there was a 9% increase to 12,840.

Mr McMurray said the bottom line is that the Newry, Mourne and Down Council area has the worst roads in Northern Ireland.

He added: “It’s a tag no one will be proud of, with drivers not only reporting damage to their vehicles, but highlighting discomfort including back pain which is inflamed by driving over potholes.