‘Horror stories’ with over 200 unadopted roads

Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson has welcomed the completion of the stretch of the A6 Derry to Belfast road.

Martina Anderson says many residents of over 200 unadopted roads estimated to be located in the Derry area have to put up with major street infrastructure problems.

“None of us is a stranger to horror stories of housing estates, both old and new, with potholed roads, manholes and sewerage structure raised several inches from the ground, flooding, poor drainage and backed-up sewage,” she said, raising the matter in the Assembly.

The Foyle MLA continued: “We have 2,991 unadopted roads right across the North.

“The bond value is almost £101·5 million. In my constituency, Derry City and Strabane District Council has 206 roads awaiting adoption, to the value of £12·5 million.”

Ms. Anderson said that in some areas ‘families who bought their dream homes more than 10 years ago still live in darkness because they have no street lights’.

Other residents cannot avail of municipal bin services because roads have not been adopted by the statutory authorities. Sewerage blockage issues are also common.

“This is not just a small problem that a few reconfigurations of the road bonds issue is going to fix. It will require decisive action and, if needed, not just the threat of enforcement, but actual enforcement,” she said.

The Derry representative added: “We need to stop developers abandoning estates for decades before returning to fix issues only after representatives like myself and others press them to do the right thing.”