A Sinn Fein councillor called out what she deems to be “disdain” for elected representatives and the Craigavon central and rural areas from the Department of Infrastructure (DfI), citing a multitude of examples to help reinforce her stance.
Speaking to DfI Roads Service officials following a presentation of their Annual Report at a full meeting of council on October 27, Councillor Catherine Nelson explained in the first instance that she would like to “vent her frustration”.
Addressing Cindy Noble, Acting Divisional Roads Manager, the elected representative for the Craigavon area said she felt there was “real underinvestment” in both central Craigavon and the rural Derrymacash and Derrytrasna areas.
Reinforcing her point, Cllr Nelson said: “I say that because not only do I read the annual reports but I recently read all five for the past five years side-by-side and I could see that these two areas are massively underinvested when compared to other areas of our council.”
The councillor explained she had previously requested a meeting with Ms Noble to discuss the mounting issues but claims she was “refused”, a decision she deemed to be “dishearteneing.
This led the councillor to make the assertion that there was a “disdain” from the Department for both elected representatives of the area and, indeed, for the area itself.
She added: “It’s not my experience of 10 years in politics to ever have been refused a meeting with a divisional manager and to have to write to the Minister in order to secure a bit of your time.
“I thought it was disappointing and if I’m very honest it’s reflective of the disdain with which I think management at DfI hold elected representatives in, in this area and indeed the disdain with which the central Craigavon and Derrymacash and Derrytrasna areas are treated.”
Prepared to illustrate that point, the councillor continued: “I don’t say that without evidence and I know I only have a few minutes so I won’t be able to give all examples, but for 10 years – 10 years – I have campaigned for works on the Derrymacash road – one of the worst roads in the borough – beside a bustling village, the main road to the chapel, the school, to the shop, to the GAA club.
“The only reason I recently got very basic patch-up work done to that road was because I began a petition and the petition started to gain traction and I then – all of a sudden – got my meeting with officials on site and got a little bit of work done. Not fully satisfactory but better than it was.”
Adding to her first example, the councillor ontinued to detail a plethora of issues that she either deems to have been unsatisfactorily handled or entirely too lengthy a process.
Included in the councillor’s list was the reporting of overgrown footpaths in Derrytrasna back in May 2025. This footpath, she argues, is the “only footpath” which also links the chapel, school and GAA club. The councillor said the overgrowth was so severe it forced “mothers with prams and people in wheelchairs” on to the busy road.
By September, she and Cllr Jude Mallon decided they would clear the footpath themselves and, Cllr Nelson added, “indeed that’s what we did”.
Continuing, Cllr Nelson said: “Back in November 2024 I requested a speed reduction in the Silverwood Road of Craigavon, that remains outstanding. I did get an email today… a bit of coincidence with DfI officials of the Southern Division appearing tonight.
“I reported a footpath in Melrose where an elderly lady took a fall, that’s now six months. It’s white-lined, that’s the extent of it.
“There’s no speed calming done at all – as far as I’m aware – in the whole of the borough. Yet, when I compare Southern Division to Northern, Western, Eastern speed calming is very regular. The introduction of ramps to help with road safety concerns is the norm – but not here.”
Seizing the opportunity to have all issues heard, the councillor then moved to address “unsatisfactory” works, continuing: “Killen Lane illustrates the example of the 15,637 utility works carried out in our borough, this year – that’s just this year – of which 2,975 only have been inspected, 44 per cent of which have been unsatisfactory.
“Killen Lane people are very proud people, they look after their area. Their footpath – their only footpath – had been dug up and it has been restored to a really poor condition.
“Officials have been out on site. I did manage to secure that… but I have been told, ‘Well, we’ll not do anything about it now because maybe at some point we will resurface the whole of the footpath’.”
After then raising additional issues surrounding children’s safety and a lack of traffic lights in central Craigavon, the councillor voiced her thoughts on the failings of the DfI’s ‘clinics’, which she regarded as a “waste of time”, given that she does not believe attending clinics gets issues progressed any further – or faster – than logging them via the portal.
Prior to questions from councillors, the DfI’s presentation had outlined a number of key points.
The Department’s officials recognised they had “more to do to improve and protect the network”, but they made clear that this year’s budget had been “very challenging”.
While there was a welcome increase of £77.6m from opening 2024-25 resource budget, Ms Nobel explained that it “does not fully meet the requirements of the Department”.
Furthermore, the opening capital budget for structural maintenance of £68m also falls “significantly short of our funding requirements”, she said.
The Acting Divisional Roads Manager explained that owing to the budgetary restrictions – coupled with “significant staffing pressures”, her Department had no alternative but to “prioritise” public safety in the first instance and essential maintenance thereafter.
Responding to Cllr Nelson, Ms Noble replied: “Thank-you Cllr Nelson, I’m sorry you feel like that.
“I can assure you that my staff work tirelessly across all of the division and – take for your example – the traffic calming, if you look at the reports from the Ards, North Down and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area I think there’s one traffic calming scheme in the whole of Southern Division… and that’s a reflection of what we can afford to deliver within this division.
“As I say, what we are trying to do is trying to prioritise those safety issues and those things have the highest priority.”
Regarding the councillor’s disapproval of the clinics, Ms Noble added: “I think that the clinics that we offer in this borough are very worthwhile and we do give a response back to all of those issues that are raised and I’m happy to take any of those and give you a response on them individually if that’s what you prefer.”
In terms of additional works to be carried out across the borough this year, Ms Noble confirmed there will be new carriageway improvement schemes commenced on the Newry Road, Tandargee and the Ballycrummy Road, Armagh.
They will also be taking forward a new puffin crossing on the Dungannon Road, Portadown and will be performing puffin upgrades on Francis Street and North Street, Lurgan.
