Hamilton Welcomes Hinch Bypass Progress

STRANGFORD DUP MLA Simon Hamilton has warmly welcomed the announcement that the Roads Service has approved the Stage 2 preferred options report for the Ballynahinch bypass scheme, including the recommendation for a preferred ine for the new road and the decision by the Department of Regional Development to include a junction at the B7 Crossgar Road.

The news was announced by DRD Minister Danny Kennedy in response to an adjournment debate sponsored by Simon Hamilton in the Stormont Assembly.

Mr Hamilton said: “This announcement by the Minister represents very positive progress on the Ballynahinch bypass. The approval of the stage 2 preferred options report including a preferred line for the bypass as well as agreement on providing a junction with the Crossgar Road is yet another milestone on the journey towards realising this much needed new road.

"In 2011, I was elected to represent the town of Ballynahinch. However, you do not need to be elected to serve Ballynahinch or to live there to know that there is a severe traffic problem in the town. This is a daily problem. There is a major problem with traffic congestion between Monday and Friday caused mainly by commuter traffic.

Simon Hamilton MLA, right, with Cllrs Billie Walker and Garth Craig, and Ballynahinch Regeneration Committee member Francis Casement and Vincent Fullam, and Jim Wells MLA, third right

"And at it weekends as traffic tries to make its way to and from the South Down coast and places such as Newcastle and the Mournes there are again road issues in Ballynahinch. Therefore, the problem is much more acute than it might be in some other parts of Northern Ireland."

Mr Hamilton explained that Ballynahinch sits as not only a gateway to many other parts of County Down but principally to the Mournes, offering a much wider interest and benefit in the bypass than just the benefit to Ballynahinch. However, he added that the biggest benefit, undoubtedly, will be to the town of Ballynahinch itself and that the future development of Ballynahinch itself very much depends on the bypass going ahead.

"The Department for Regional Development’s Regional Development Strategy designates Ballynahinch as a local hub in County Down. The Ards and Down area plan sets aside a lot of land for future development. 30 hectares of development ground for around 750 homes is contingent on the bypass happening. That will also benefit the area. Business will benefit because the bigger the population living there, the more they should use shops and services in the town. So, in a development sense, the bypass is good for Ballynahinch and its business.

"Ballynahinch has a lot of construction, aggregates and manufacturing industry based around it. That requires putting a lot of vehicles on the road to get goods to and from the marketplace. I have spoken to many people, particularly in the aggregates sector, who said that, depending on the time of day that they put a vehicle on the road they would not put out a vehicle because it may not get out and back in time. That comes at a cost to them and affects their competiveness

Local businesses on the High Street too received Mr Hamilton's attention when he noted that there are quite a number of local retailers. He said, "That is because of the good efforts of people in the town, the regeneration committee and local politicians through the years. However, those businesses are undoubtedly suffering.

"If people are commuting back home they may have to stop to get groceries of some kind or another. Traders in the town have told me that their belief is, that when cars arrive in Ballynahinch, the only thing that is in the mind of the driver is how they can get through the town as quickly as possible, and that there is no way that they are going to stop there, try to get a car parking space and then try to get back out into the traffic, which might be worse five minutes later."

He aslo said that the bypass will increase road safety but added that unfortunately, in the last two years, there have been two fatal accidents in Windmill Street, which is part of the one-way system around Ballynahinch, involving pedestrians and heavy goods vehicles.  "I have also seen buses go through Carlisle Park to get to local schools to pick up schoolchildren. Those are streets in residential areas that were not designed to take the big buses through them, but a sort of unofficial bypass has developed in the town.

"If we could get through all those statutory processes as quickly as we can, so that the project is shovel-ready, then, if finance becomes available, perhaps as a result of reallocations resulting from the A5 issue, or, indeed, if it is the start of the next Budget period, the project will be sitting in the Minister’s Department ready to go without any further unnecessary delay”.

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