To ask the Minister for Regional Development, pursuant to AQW 45441/11-15, to detail the change in the annual contract between TransportNI and local councils, which funds urban grass cutting; and for his assessment of the impact on the tourist economy.

TransportNI’s objective in cutting grass on its lands is to prevent overgrowth onto footway and carriageway surfaces and the obstruction of sightlines and traffic signs. Grass cutting operations are therefore carried out for road safety reasons and not for aesthetic or amenity purposes.

The policy attempts to maintain the balance between road safety, the control of noxious weeds and environmental protection and historically provided for two cuts per year in rural areas and five cuts in urban areas. The area to be cut was one swathe width (1.2m), with the complete area required for sightlines to be cut as necessary.

In some cases, District Councils wish to have a higher standard of grass maintenance within their boundary than is provided by TransportNI, usually for aesthetic and amenity reasons. In these cases, the Councils accepted responsibility for the work within their respective boundary and were reimbursed by TransportNI for the cuts that would have been carried out under its policy. However, not all councils seek a higher standard of grass maintenance or adopt this practice.

As you may be aware, my Department is facing a £60 million resource budget pressure in 2015/16, more than half of which has fallen to TransportNI, and since 31 March 2015 my Department has been unable to employ external providers to undertake routine maintenance activities such as grass cutting or fund the grass cutting service provided by Councils on behalf of TransportNI.

However, our internal workforce will continue to provide a skeleton routine maintenance service in relation to grass cutting, which will allow all areas to be cut once between April and October, with sightlines at bends and junctions being cut more frequently as required in the interests of road safety.