ABC councillors frustrated over attempts to have speed limits reduced at Northway and Kernan Hill Road

A number of councillors expressed the opinion at the latest monthly meeting of Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council, that the Department was giving seemingly inconsistent and / or inflexible criteria when it comes to approving requests for lower speed limits.

A first request had been made at the Asda junction, on Northway.

ABC Lord Mayor, Margaret Tinsley had previously described just how bad the situation is at that location, saying: “At the Asda junction, we are having numerous accidents, all too many.

“It’s not a single-car [collision], it’s usually two or three vehicles involved whenever these accidents are happening.”

In correspondence to ABC chief executive, Mr Roger Wilson, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) contended, however, that the collision history at that location does not warrant further investigating.

The email, dated March 29, states: “The Department has undertaken a review of the collision history at the Asda junction on the Northway.

“This signalised junction has been operating since late 2012, and with the Northway having an approximate annual average daily traffic of 19,000, it did not meet the threshold of four collisions within a three-year period in our policy to be investigated further.”

Kernan Hill Road / Drumnagoon Road, in Portadown, is another area of concern, because it has become so heavily built up.

ABC councillors had called on DfI to lower the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph on that road, in light of new residential developments which have been built there.

These include a housing development to comprise 92 dwellings, and a play park.

That request was also turned down in correspondence received on April 24.

“The speed limit of 40mph on Kernan Hill Road / Drumnagoon Road is in line with our current policy and considered to be appropriate,” said DfI.“The Department has also recently installed a puffin crossing (March 2023) on the Kernan Hill Road to provide a safer crossing for cyclists and pedestrians. This took into account the increased development in the area, the provision of a new council play park and the popularity of the pedestrian/cycle route.”

Speaking at the April 29 ABC Council meeting, Councillor Robbie Alexander (Alliance, Craigavon DEA) expressed frustration over DfI’s stance.

“The Asda junction in Portadown and the speed limit on the Kernan Road, these are responses that I have seen before from DfI,” he said.

“They’re very consistent with all the requests I’ve made around the Craigavon area. I’m a little bit lost. Whenever it comes to DfI and asking for things around speed limits, I just don’t see how there’s consistency across the various roads.

“Kernan is a really good example of a road that’s had a 40mph speed limit on it for as long as I can remember, and I’ve lived here my entire life.

“There’s probably about 500 extra houses on that road in the last five years, so if it met the criteria then, how does it meet the criteria now?

“And that’s just one example of a road across our borough that has hundreds, if not thousands, of extra houses near it in the last 10 years, and every time you write a letter to them you get a boilerplate response, saying it doesn’t meet the threshold, or this is the criteria that we use to set speed limits along this road.

“When we speak to the police we get the same sort of answer [saying] we provide data to them, but I don’t know if that factors in calls to 101 about incidents that maybe weren’t accidents, but were maybe close calls, or people speeding on the road.

“Maybe it’s a case of raising awareness. If we do see someone speeding or there has been a close call, it needs to be actually reported through 101.

“I don’t really know why I’m sort of coming in on it, it’s more out of frustration than anything else.

“I don’t know if there’s anything that we can actually do about it, but it’s very frustrating to see the same responses over and over again.”

Ald Margaret Tinsley (DUP, Craigavon DEA) concurred with the Alliance representative: “I myself have been raising Kernan from about 2016/2017, since all those extra houses were going up.

“I’ve actually got to the point where I’ve asked what the criteria actually is, and can that be reviewed, so I totally understand your frustration.”

Alderman Mark Baxter (DUP, Lagan River DEA) pointed out that while the chief executive had received replies from named DfI officials, correspondence addressed to him is usually anonymous

“Maybe a bit of a petty point, but I commend you, chief executive on getting a a name whenever you get an email back from DfI. They actually put their name to it,” he said.

“Because over the last couple of years they don’t even have the respect for councillors and aldermen to put their names to the emails. You don’t know who you’re talking to.

“We talked about second-class citizens there a while ago. I think we have to be mindful of the way DfI send emails to us, that they can’t even put their name to it. It’s a source of consternation to me.”

Councillor Catherine Nelson (Sinn Féin, Craigavon DEA) thought it would be a good thing for the local authority to purchase electronic devices assessing motorists’ speed.

"Speeding is a real plight on society, and the challenges I’m facing in my DEA, constantly looking at speed reductions, presence of the the the PSNI on our roads, trying to get data, it is very frustrating,” said Cllr Nelson.

“And then going to the PCSP and making a request for the much-coveted speed indicator electronic devices.

“Cllr Alexander made a point there and his frustration. He’s right, what can I do, I don’t know what else I can do.

“We keep getting these responses back and we’re not getting anywhere, and it’s for that reason that I think as a council and a body we should consider those speed indicator devices and purchasing a larger sum of them. It’s maybe something that we could explore in committee because they work, they make people very aware of their speed, and they get people to slow down as they approach them.

“Could I propose that we (…) get those costed and [the matter] brought back to members for some consideration.

“We live in a busier world and people are always in a rush.”

Councillor Mary O’Dowd (Sinn Féin, Lurgan DEA) seconded the proposal.

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Alderman Paul Greenfield (DUP, Banbridge DEA) explained that these devices would serve a real need.

“I think we have been the ones in the past through Policing & Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) that did help supply some of these, if my memory is right, so we should have figures for that. I know the police have mentioned that at the PCSP meetings, about [how] they could use them hundreds of times over.

“I know they would be very well used, going by what we’re hearing at the PCSP meetings.”

The Lord Mayor indicated that the matter would be acted upon. She said: “The chief executive [just] said he’ll make sure that that’s brought back to the relevant committee.”