Buncrana Road widening scheme paused - Derry councillors told

It appears the long-awaited widening of Derry’s A2 Buncrana Road has been put on the long finger by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI).

Daniel Heaney, the department’s western divisional road manager, was questioned about the project by SDLP councillor Rory Farrell at Wednesday’s Derry City and Strabane District Council Environment and Regeneration committee meeting.

Cllr Farrell said congestion on the Buncrana Road was leading to congestion right across the city. He added there need to be “realistic timescales to have some sort of movement, to unpause that project”.

“We need to see progress and we need to see it soon,” added Cllr Farrell.

Responding, Mr Heaney said: “[The A2 Buncrana Road] is paused at the moment. The design and taking it forward is dependent on the Northwest Transport Plan and that’s due for public consultation in spring 2026.

“So, hopefully, that will be developed next year and that will give some clarity as to when and how the Buncrana Road is taken forward.

“Obviously there is a prioritised list of strategic route improvement schemes out there at the minute that was published earlier this year and because it is paused Buncrana Road was not included in that and once the Northwest Transport Plan is completed, we will be able to get clarity on whether that should be included in future schemes.

“As soon as we have that clarity it will be publicised with regards to whether we take the Buncrana Road through and where it sits in our priority list.”

Cllr Rory Farrell.

Cllr Farrell also took issue with the DfI’s allocation of funding to in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area, while recognising “the Department is operating in a very difficult financial position”.

“I think nobody will be unaware of the state of disrepair of roads, road markings, street lighting schemes that need updated and upgraded right across this city and district,” said Cllr Farrell. “All representatives, all councillors, all MPs are contacted on a very regular basis to try and get improvements in their local community. And I know that when we report something, we have to email again and again and again.

“The message coming back to us is that due to budget constraints, you can't give a timeline for the implementation of the requested work. I get that. I do appreciate the very difficult funding situation you find yourself in. I do appreciate the funding envelope that comes down from the minister is insufficient to meet demand.

“But I just want to touch on the spend across this council area. A DUP MLA from North Down, Peter Martin, asked the Infrastructure Minister in September for a breakdown of spend per council area over the last 10 years.

“I have had a look at it. The spend in Derry and Strabane is not great. In the last year we were eighth out of 11 council areas and in the eight years we have data for, we were in the top half on only one occasion.

“The spend across this city across this district in comparison to other council areas is low. We don't think that's fair. We don't think that's balanced. We obviously think that our city and district should be prioritized. There are so many streets, roads, areas across the city and district that could be improved.

“What I would note is that in the last two years, the spend across our city and district for road maintenance was £20 million, Newry, Mourne and Down in the same period had £36 million. There's quite a disparity there.

“Our view is if there was more money available in the budget, the Strand Road could be resurfaced, Baronscourt could be resurfaced, Oakbridge could be resurfaced. There are so many streets across the town that we are being contacted about on a really regular basis that could be upgraded if there was a budget available.

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“Our view is, the budget spent across this city and district is too low. There is this push from the Stormont Executive about regional balance, about getting investment into the northwest but those figures that we're seeing is that we're in the bottom half. We have the fourth lowest spend in the 2023/ 24 year and we don't think that's acceptable.

“We want to see that increase so my question in terms of the budget, I get there's a budget difficulty but there are seven other councils that are getting more investment than our council.”