A motorist has received £7,000 in compensation after hitting a pothole that had reportedly been left unrepaired for a prolonged period, as councillors raised concerns about the condition of roads in Armagh and across Northern Ireland.
The payment was disclosed when DfI Roads officials presented their annual report to ABC Council this week. It formed part of overall compensation claims that were approaching £1 million a year.
TUV councillor Keith Ratcliffe criticised Roads Minister Liz Kimmins and said the figures showed serious problems with the maintenance of basic road infrastructure. He described the Executive figures as “extremely grim reading” and said he was “extremely concerned” about the state of the roads.
Claims rise from 237 to 1,687
According to figures cited by Councillor Ratcliffe, claims made to the Department for Infrastructure have increased from 237 in 2021 to 1,687. He said that represented a 600 per cent increase.
The councillor asked Southern Divisional Roads Manager Cindy Noble whether she expected the number of potholes in the local area to fall over the next year and how that would be achieved.
“That is scandalous,” said Councillor Ratcliffe. “This is our basic infrastructure and it’s time the Minister got her act together. Liz Kimmins is the Infrastructure Minister and this is bad management, absolutely bad management, and we have to have accountability whenever there’s failings like this.”
He added: “Every single year we have been coming in here, the number has been rising year after year after year and for a 600% rise is absolutely unbelievable.”
Roads manager points to limited maintenance service
Ms Noble acknowledged that DfI Roads had seen more defects reported across the network during the past year. She said the department had operated a limited service since 2015, restricting its focus to higher-priority defects.
“We have, for over 10 years now, since 2015, been operating our limited service, which has only allowed us to focus on those higher priority defects. So, unfortunately, that’s why we see an increasing number of defects on the network,” she said.
She also referred to reports identifying under-funding and a structural-maintenance deficit. In the past year, approximately 82,000 incident reports were logged through the public information portal. Around half related to street lighting, with the remainder covering other roads matters.
Ms Noble described the volume as “a hell of a lot”.
New maintenance strategy and Armagh road works
Ms Noble said a new road maintenance strategy launched by the Minister would aim to move beyond repairing potholes after they appear. The plan is intended to support more targeted investment before roads deteriorate.
“One of the things that the Minister has launched this year and we will be taking forward is the new road maintenance strategy. That will see hopefully a more focussed, more targeted intervention, and not just focussing on potholes when they have occurred but trying to deliver best value and target the investment in our roads before the roads have deteriorated, so that’s one of the initiatives that we’re working on,” she explained.
A digital survey covering Northern Ireland’s 26,000-kilometre road network has been completed, including just over 8,000 kilometres in the Southern Division. Roads divisions will use the information to consider where more targeted intervention is needed.
“It’s not always going to be about treating the potholes,” Ms Noble said. “It’s trying to invest in the network. It is a valuable asset – one of the most valuable that we have within Northern Ireland – and hopefully we can try and continue to deliver the maintenance of it, but it’s a mammoth exercise for us.”
Completed schemes over the past year included work on the Moy Road in Armagh and the Derrymacash Road. Further resurfacing is planned for the Coolmillish Road at Markethill and Princess Way in Portadown.
The Department for Infrastructure has identified an indicative allocation of approximately £98 million for structural maintenance, subject to formal agreement by the Executive. That would be around £30 million more than last year’s opening allocation and includes £12.5 million for a roads recovery fund covering priority resurfacing, roadside stability and drainage schemes.
Despite the additional funding, the limited service policy is set to remain for routine work such as defect repairs, grass cutting and gully emptying. DfI Roads said priority maintenance would also include road signs, road markings, patching and drainage.