Roads network faces biggest funding crisis in 25 years

The roads network in Northern Ireland is facing its biggest funding crisis in over 25 years, a Stormont committee has heard.

The plea from the Mineral Products Association (MPA) in Northern Ireland has warned politicians of the serious implications on road safety and employment in the sector if additional funding is not found urgently.

It comes ahead of Stormont’s October monitoring round which is expected next month.

Monitoring rounds provide a system to review spending plans and are usually held three times a year, in January, June and October.

Gordon Best from MPA NI told politicians that current budgetary and resource issues are negatively impacting on their ability to maintain the roads network.

He said it employs about 950 people in Northern Ireland and that a quarter of those jobs could be at risk.

“If future funding for maintenance is not forthcoming in October, many of those 950 employees will not have a job.

“We estimate as much as a quarter of those workers will have to be laid off.”

He estimates an additional £40m is required in October monitoring round and a further £40m in January “just to stand still”.

“If not, then the contracting industry will be grounding to a halt,” he added.

Committee chair Deborah Erskine MLA asked what that will mean on capacity for responding to requests for urgent repairs.

David Chambers from MPA NI said: “The reality is, come the end of November, our resources aren’t going to be there. We are going to be laying people off. You can’t expect them to sit about doing nothing, waiting to get a phone call.

“In the short term, there will be immediate job losses, we cannot keep apprentices employed with no work.

“It’s going to have a serious impact on road safety because the resources aren’t going to be there to do the repairs and maintain the highways.”

The committee was also told there is a clear correlation between lack of road maintenance and increased vehicle damage claims.

Mark H Durkan MLA described the picture as “scary” as things are bad now and the forecast is “even worse” with a “perfect storm” brewing.

Mark Quigley from MPA NI told him the sector is at the point now where it has “nowhere to go”.

He said: “There will most certainly be job losses coming in November, coming into Christmas, I can’t over-emphasise that.”

Officials from the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) were also presenting to the committee.

Colin Woods from DfI said they can give the sector “no confidence” that there will be more funding post November as the department is relying on October monitoring round to have additional funding.

He said: “We know that we are investing less than the network requires to keep it in the right condition and this is the essence of the budget challenges that the department and the minister have been grappling with for a number of years.”