The management of the A5 road project to date has been criticised by representatives from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).

Speaking at Stormont on Tuesday, Chris Osborne from the UFU said over 3,000 acres of land on 314 farms is set to be affected by the road upgrade.

“We feel that there has been a lack of transparency and a lack of real detail about what this will actually mean for impacted landowners,” he said.

Fairness

MLAs were told that the UFU does not oppose the A5 upgrade, but it is pressing for “fairness” in how the landowners are dealt with.

“Our fear is that this road will be built and then conversations relating to the small detail will only be panned out afterwards,” Osborne said.

Information packs have been sent to the affected landowners, which sets out the date of 25 November 2024 for the compulsory acquisition of land, known as vesting.

Osborne said discussions about compensation for vested land are yet to begin with landowners.

“There have been no specific pounds and pence conversations,” he said.

Communication

In his evidence, Alexander Kinnear from the UFU said communication from Department of Infrastructure to affected landowners so far has been “extremely poor”.

“If we can’t get answers as an organisation, how are individual farmers meant to get that?” he said. Kinnear added that specific issues related to agriculture, which fall under the remit of DAERA, need to be addressed too.

He gave the example of bovine TB, where there is a risk that badgers will be displaced and subsequently spread the disease as the new road is constructed. Another issue is planning rules related to ammonia, as landowners who have livestock sheds vested as part of the road upgrade will find it extremely difficult to get planning permission for new sheds elsewhere.

Exempt

“Those people either need to be exempt from ammonia planning protocols or else LPS (Land and Property Services) is going to have to come up with a very large figure to pay those people who will never be fit to farm again,” Kinnear said.