Ballinderry residents outrage over state of footpaths

A number of residents residing in Derrychrin Park raised their concerns with local Sinn Fein Councillor Gavin Bell who visited the area to have a look for himself.

Councillor Bell told the MAIL: “Upon my visit to the residents houses within the estate, I could see clearly the lack of investment in the resurfacing. This is causing conditions to become dangerous during bouts of bad weather, with surface water being a huge problem and slippy pathways due to surface erosion exposing earth underfoot.

“I had been challenged by a number of Derrychrin’s residents on how conditions between neighbouring estates could be so different? I have been calling for parity of esteem between estates such as Windsor Terrace, Coagh, and Derrychrin Park. You can see clearly see that money has been spent, by Roads Service, on selected estates, and others have been forgotten about.

“While I commend recent work carried out by Roads Service in resurfacing Coagh Village, part of Moneyhaw Road near Moneymore, there is a long, long way to go to bringing areas of the Loughshore up to similar standard.”

A Department for Regional Development spokesperson said: “The need for improvements such as these are assessed, prioritised and programmed on a needs basis taking into account competing priorities and availability of funding.

“TransportNI is aware of the issues in Derrychrin Park and they will be given equal consideration to issues in all other estates when deciding future programmes.”