SDLP Mayor of Lisburn Brian Heading has hit out at an announcement by Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy that his department will not foot the bill for unfinished roads in estates where developers went bust.

DRD announced that the £300m cost would not come out of the public purse – indeed, homeowners who have already paid their rates will have to pay for the repairs needed to allow the roads to be adopted into the Roads Service.

Cllr Heading said: "There are 370 miles of unadopted roads across the North and I know of several in the Lisburn boundaries where the hardcore has not been tarmacked over.

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"The damage that vehicles can do to this inadequate surface – and vice-versa – is unacceptable.

"People who handed over hard-earned money on the promise of a new house and paid their rates without question should not now be expected to pay additional sums just to bail out bankrupt developers.

"The Department is no more responsible for the developers’ plight than the homeowners, but they are responsible for adopting roads and maintaining them and they have greater financial clout than the average householder.

"I am appalled at the intransigence that Danny Kennedy is currently displaying.

"The Minister must meet homeowners halfway and seek a viable solution which does not foist the failings of recession-stricken developers onto the already-pressed bank accounts of mortgage-payers."

(CD)