Bell says DRD spending on Lisburn’s Roads lags 22% behind their spend in Londonderry
Billy Bell MLA, Ulster Unionist Assemblyman for Lagan Valley and Public Accounts Committee Chairman in the last Assembly, today questioned the amount spent on roads in the City of Lisburn in the past five years. The MLA says the figures show that Londonderry with a population just behind that of Lisburn had 22% more spent on its roads than Lisburn
“I am concerned that Lisburn, which is Northern Ireland’s second city in terms of population with 108,000 citizens has had significantly less spent on its roads in the past five years than Londonderry with a population of 105,000. In fact Lisburn had about one quarter less spent on its roads than Londonderry. Five years is a reasonably long period and you would expect to see some averaging out over such a time span but that has not happened.”
“Between 2000 and 2005 £39.2 million was spent on Lisburn’s roads compared to £50.12 million spent on Londonderry’s. That is a very significant gap. It is a gap which is consistent year after year as the attached table shows. Year on year Lisburn is disadvantaged when compared to Londonderry. This suggests that something is badly wrong with our road building priorities and certainly needs to be looked at.”
“Lisburn’s current roads are inadequate to say the least. There is, for instance, only a B class road between Lisburn, with a population of 108,000 and over 3,000 businesses, and the International Airport. If you were a stranger, and really wanted to, you could easily find Loanends but you would be hard put to find Lisburn. In fact there is still no sign at the airport gate directing people to Lisburn. It is as if Lisburn did not exist. Well, I know 108,000 people who would not agree with that and it’s time the Roads Service took more account of the fact.”