Ulster Unionist MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone Diana Armstrong has said the Department for Infrastructure's update on A5 land vesting will do little to reassure the three hundred families facing uncertainty over what their land will be worth.

Diana Armstrong said: “I welcome that the Department is engaging directly with landowners, and I welcome the commitment that no major construction will start before the end of the year. That gives people a bit of breathing space.

“What it does not do is answer the question these families keep asking me. What will their land actually be valued at?

“The Minister has already told the Assembly that under the legislation the valuation stays at November 2024. I accept she has said that is not something within her gift to change. But that leaves over three hundred families in a position nobody would accept in any other walk of life. Land values have not stood still since November 2024. Contractor costs have not stood still. Materials, labour and professional fees will all be paid at today’s rates. The farmer is the only one in this project being asked to take two-year-old money.

placeholder image — AERA Chair Diana Armstrong MLA

“If the law is producing that outcome, then somebody in government needs to look at the law, because telling farmers their hands are tied is not an answer to a family trying to work out whether they can replace the ground they are losing.

“There is a second gap in this update. The Department accepts that the legal proceedings delayed access to compensation funding. It does not say when anybody will actually be paid. Nearly two years on from the original vesting, these families have had land taken, handed back, and are now facing it being taken again. They need dates, not a webpage.

“I will keep pressing on both the valuation question and on what has actually been paid out, because the people I represent along that route have been patient for long enough.”