A legal challenge to the A5 road upgrade has been delayed as the Department for Infrastructure missed a deadline to submit evidence.
A scheme to turn the road into a dual carriageway was first approved by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2007, however, it has been held up by legal challenges and uncertainty over funding. There have been 56 deaths on the A5, which links Derry with Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone, since 2006.
The green-light was given for the long-awaited upgrade in October 2024, but judicial review proceedings were brought against Stormont's Department for Infrastructure by nine applicants opposed to the project in November 2024.
Read more: A5 upgrade approved by Northern Ireland Executive
Read more: New legal challenge launched to upgrade of A5
This three-day hearing of the judicial review has now been delayed by two weeks, and will be heard on March 18 after the DfI failed to submit affidavit evidence by the deadline of January 17.
Responding to a written question this week from SDLP West Tyrone MLA, Daniel McCrossan, the new Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins, said the delay was caused by a timeline the judge agreed was "ambitious."
The minister said: "At the review hearing on 3 December 2024, the parties agreed a very ambitious and condensed case management timetable to facilitate expedition of this complex and important legal challenge with a hearing scheduled for 3 March 2025.
"The evidence which the Department considered to be necessary for the purposes of the case was extremely voluminous including, historical, technical, scientific and legal analysis. To ensure the Department’s evidence before the Court comprehensively addresses all elements of this legal challenge so that the most robust defence is advanced, the Department required a short extension of time to finalise its affidavit evidence.
"The hearing has now been relisted for 18 March 2025. In agreeing the revised timetable, the Judge acknowledged that the original timetable was ambitious, noting that the case involved complex issues, and commended the parties on their efforts to progress the case and also for their detailed revised case management timetable."
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