The Commission was appointed by the Department for Infrastructure Roads (DFI) in 2019 to hold a public inquiry under Article 67A of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 into the A5 dual carriageway scheme in the Western Transport Corridor. Stages 1 and 2 of the inquiry took place in February and March 2020. An interim report to DfI was forwarded in September 2020 which recommended that further work be carried out to assess flood risk and alternatives to the proposed scheme. DfI accepted these recommendations and in March 2022 published a new addendum to the Environmental Statement along with updated reports which they consulted on. Meanwhile, the inquiry stood adjourned.
Week 2 of the resumed Public Inquiry into the A5 Western Transport Corridor will commence on Tuesday 30th May. The Commission has decided to hold the first day of week 2 of the inquiry in the Strule Arts Centre. We are conscious of the number of people who may wish to participate in or observe the session on road safety, which is likely to be more than when the bookings were made for the venues. The Inquiry will move to Omagh Enterprise Centre as planned from Wednesday 31st May until the close of the Inquiry on Friday 2nd June. A revised version of the Inquiry programme is available here.
In advance of the re-opening, the Commission has prepared lists of selected statutes, selected case law, scheme documents and selected reference documents to which the Commissioner and assessor may refer in the course of the inquiry. These lists are available here. Participants may refer to other statutes, case law and documents so long as they provide copies to the Commission and the other parties.
Additional information which the Department recently provided at the Commission’s request is available here.