Larne West roads cannot take more housing- Stewart

Larne West roads cannot take more housing- Stewart

John Stewart, Ulster Unionist MLA for East Antrim, has said that the chaos during the snow and ice on Donaghy’s Lane shows that the roads infrastructure for Larne West must be sorted out before any new housing developments are approved in the area.

Pictured with Cllr Andy Wilson at the top of Donaghy's Lane

John Stewart MLA said:

“If it were not for the civic mindedness of local residents who acted as unofficial traffic officers on Donaghy’s Lane, then half of the residents of the Beeches, Oakdene, the Hamptons and Hampton Manor would not have made it home last Tuesday evening.  They took it upon themselves to direct motorists to go up and down this short, steep road which links their developments with the Antiville Road and the A8, on a one by one basis.  This was the only way to avoid total gridlock and accidents.

“Leaving aside the gritting issue, what last Tuesday night proved is what all local residents already know:  Donaghy’s Lane is not fit for purpose and the link road infrastructure in the Larne West developments must be completed and joined up before any more new housing is built.

“Just this week an outline planning application for about 500 new homes off the Ballyboley Road has been advertised.  The application looks to be well thought out and attractive.  However, there is simply no way that all that extra traffic can simply be funnelled down to the town centre or the dual carriageway via the existing roads.  It is essential that the Ballyloran Link road, which has been designed to exit onto the OId Belfast Road below Millbrook, is completed and opened up as an alternative for people trying to get onto the A8 dual carriageway.

“The Larne West developments have been developer led since the land was zoned for housing and building started about 20 years ago. But this piecemeal approach to planning has created unwelcomed traffic bottlenecks and unbalanced development.

“I am urging that the DfI Roads Service sit down with the Council’s planning department to develop a strategy now- working with the housing developers who are building the houses- to work to a timetable to finish the link road infrastructure and take the pressure off the existing traffic bottlenecks at the bottom of the Linn Road and Donaghy’s Lane.”