£165m York Street scheme is delayed by legal challenge

A LONG-AWAITED roads project for Belfast faces yet further delay amid a fresh legal challenge, it has emerged.

Around eight years after it was first announced, cash was finally earmarked for the York Street Interchange development as part of the DUP’s £1bn deal with the Tories.

But now a legal challenge, which has been confirmed by the Department for Infrastructure, over the awarding of the main construction contract could delay the scheme further.

The department has said that a tender cannot be awarded “due to a legal challenge”, which it says is “ongoing”.

“The procurement process for the York Street Interchange has been progressed in parallel with the statutory process,” a spokeswoman said.

“The tender process to appoint a contractor to bring the scheme to a construction ready stage has now been completed.

“However, tender award cannot occur at present due to a legal challenge. The legal process is ongoing.”

The scheme is thought to be worth between £130m and £165m.

The spokeswoman added: “Delivery of the York Street Interchange scheme remains a high priority for the department.

“In November, the then Infrastructure Minister announced the publication of the outcome of the public inquiry into the York Street Interchange proposal. This included the publication of the public inquiry inspector’s report and the departmental statement.

“The process of consulting local residents and key stakeholders on issues identified in the inspector’s report is under way.

“After the contractor is appointed, detailed design work would commence and the scheme would be ready to move to main construction in about 12 months. It is expected the scheme would take around three years to complete.”

The interchange is key to alleviating Belfast’s increasing gridlock. The bulk of the cash needed to build it, around 40%, was originally due to come from the EU.

As Northern Ireland’s busiest junction, it carries 100,000 vehicles daily, mostly commuters from around Co Antrim.

It was revealed this week that part of a £1bn fiscal package for Northern Ireland, as part of the DUP deal with the Conservatives, will include £400m for infrastructure. Part of that money will be freed up for the York Street Interchange.

At the end of last year, former Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard accepted a recommendation from a public inquiry that the scheme should progress in principle but reiterated warnings that Brexit had placed a question mark over funding.

In January, £4m of funding was freed up to help progress plans to a “construction ready state”.

At the time, Mr Hazzard said: “This is an important step in the development of the interchange, which is seeking to address the traffic delays at this heavily congested location.

“The new interchange will improve journey time reliability and road safety for motorists, including freight transport, and support the competitiveness of the Port of Belfast with improved links to the strategic road network.”