A5 ruling could impact anything Executive wants to build – Gordon Lyons

A court judgment on the A5 road project could impact “anything” the Executive attempts to build, a Stormont minister has said.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said parties in the Assembly must show “political bravery” and admit they got it wrong over the Climate Change Act in 2022.

High Court judge Mr Justice McAlinden last week quashed an Executive decision to approve the £1.2 billion A5 road upgrade.

The judge said the proposals did not demonstrate how they complied with the Climate Change Act, which set targets for Stormont departments of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

At the Assembly, DUP MLA Trevor Clarke asked the minister what concerns he had over the court ruling in the light of his responsibility for delivering social housing and building work.

Mr Lyons said: “I started to take some legal advice and the implications that it will have.

“I am deeply concerned about what this may mean for Northern Ireland, in particular for house building as well.

“We are in a position now, as a result of the mess that went on in 2022, rival bills coming forward to this Assembly, some parties, including Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance, they were tripping over themselves to out-green the Green Party, they have left us in this mess.

“We have to deal with the reality of the situation we find ourselves in, the targets that are now there and the legislative requirements that are upon us.

“I think this could have an impact not just on major infrastructure projects, but anything that we seek to build. If it is seen not to line up with our plans, if it is seen not to line up with the legislation, we could be in difficulty.”

Mr Clarke asked Mr Lyons what confidence he had that the Executive could find a solution so he could meet his commitments in delivering social housing.

The DUP minister said calls for an “emergency fix” to the climate change legislation to deal with the A5 would not be enough.

He added: “That is why I have written to the Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir and I have asked him to bring forward amending legislation to the Climate Change Act so we can put in place policies that actually take account of the difficult situations we have been placed in.

“This is something I have been warning about for some time. It is inevitable that this would have happened, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody and we need to rectify the situation.

“I know it takes political bravery to say we got it wrong, we rushed on this, we let ourselves get into a difficult situation.

“The important thing is we recognise it was a mistake and put in place solid action.

“There is a lot of talk about experts. We ignored the experts, we ignored the climate change committee back in 2022 because we were driven by ideology, we were driven by political considerations instead of what was best for the people of Northern Ireland.

“It has come back to bite us.”