SDLP Councillor Colin McGrath has written to the Department for Regional Development Roads Minister over the state of the roads in Downpatrick and the wider Lecale area.
The Downpatrick Councillor said: ‘The roads across South Down are in a poor state at present – much worse than they have been in a long time.
“People are coming close to having accidents as they swerve to avoid pot-holes and many vehicles are having hundreds of pounds worth of damage done to them.
“With the heavy rain too, many pot-holes are filling with water and present an added danger as drivers are unaware that they are about to drive over such dangerous road defects.
“I have contacted Roads Service on a number of occasions of late, and sometimes remedial patch work is undertaken, but we must see a coherent and long-term strategy to manage these damage-inflicting defects which appear every year about this time, but this year appears to be much worse that usual.
“I hope the Minister will recognise and agree with me about this problem and divert additional funding to the East Down area to have this problem sorted.
“We do not have a major road carriageway in our area and our rural roads are vital especially for emergency traffic sich as ambulances. Further deterioration on our roads is just not acceptable.”
