A major Northern Ireland road is set to be closed for a long‑awaited clean-up of a “shocking” litter problem.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has now confirmed it has almost completed specialised training of its staff to litter pick the busy motorway, with the rubbish pile-up lambasted by elected members.
However, concern has been raised over whether the council will keep up appearances on the A1 bypass on a regular basis or if it will be a “one-off wonder”.
A local business owner who initially raised the environmental concern spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), saying: “This is a shocking 16-year-old problem since the bypass was opened with three years of excuses. It is time to get it sorted, end of story.
“There doesn’t seem to be an issue regarding litter cleaning south of the border.
“They are regularly on that stretch of the A1 using a bumper vehicle behind all workers. No road closures required.
“It is just excuse after excuse to delay again and again by our council.”
Following an LDRS investigation in March 2023, the council admitted responsibility for clearing litter from a large section of the Newry A1 bypass.
The council then pledged to liaise with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to set up a safe way for its staff to pick up the litter using impact protection vehicles.
The business owner added: “One way or the other the council is responsible and needs to proceed forward and continue to do its job.
“If this was a private body heads would roll, but as it’s a public body no one seems to be held accountable.
“As long as it becomes a regular clean-up schedule put in place and not just the council taking action as a one-off wonder when there is pressure from journalists and politicians.”
DfI and the council had been at loggerheads for some time over responsibility for the clean-up.
But the government bodies have now confirmed co-operation in order to finally clean up litter thrown from passing cars dating back almost two decades.
At the recent Strategy, Policy and Resources Committee, Mournes DUP councillor Henry Reilly said: “Are our staff trained and fully up to speed on working along highways?
“There is still this ongoing problem of litter along the main roads which really brings down the whole tone of our area, especially when you are coming across from the Republic, where there is no litter, into Newry, Mourne and Down where there seems to be litter everywhere.
“We would really need to get on top of that and it was said by council, when Councillor Mathers brought this up, that it was a matter of training staff.”
The area in question is the Beech Hill to Cloughogue dual carriageway phase of the road, which was completed in 2010 at a cost of over £150m, with tens of thousands of motorists using it every day since.
The final section of the road was hailed as making the island of Ireland more accessible than it had ever been before. It passes through the Ring of Gullion Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
In chambers, Newry Sinn Féin councillor Aidan Mathers added: “In terms of the littering there is not a day that goes by that we are not asked about it.
“As you can see, people are starting to take matters into their own hands and carrying out litter picks in their own areas.
“I would like to get a timeframe of when council staff will be able to do that.”
A council officer responded: “There is an intensive training programme of temporary traffic management going on at the moment.
“We are basically hoping by the end of June the full remit of staff will have been through the required training.
“We have been looking at the options in terms of litter picking.”
The LDRS contacted DfI.
A spokesperson said: “Departmental officials recently met with local council representatives where it was confirmed the department will assist the council with a road closure when the council plans a clean-up of the route.”
