Carla Lockhart MLA highlights the need for grass cutting along roadsides in Upper Bann.

Carla Lockhart said she has been faced with “a deluge of complaints from residents regarding dangerous sightlines, and untidy and unkempt areas appearing within the towns and villages.”

Claiming that the lack of grass cutting is due to the ongoing political impasse at Stormont, Ms Lockhart said: “This fiasco comes on the back of two years of cuts by outgoing Ministers and with no Executive it is causing major problems with budgets and securing of funding to cut the grass verges and keep sightlines well maintained.

“I have been inundated with complaints about this and the weeds that are everywhere. It is high time that the Executive was back up and running so that issues such as this can be sorted out. We are now down to one cut per year in many areas and this is unacceptable.”

The DUP woman continued: “I will be meeting the authorities and challenging them on this, however I cannot and will not blame the Roads Service [now TransportNI] staff because their hands are tied. We need a functioning government and therefore the blame for this lies at the feet of Sinn Fein.

“I trust that common sense will prevail and that additional money will be sourced to keep our roads safe and well maintained.”