“The appointment of Consultants by the Minister for Social Development to advise specifically on the development of  transportation, access, parking and key town centre sites is a real boost for the market town of Downpatrick.

This report comes at a very exciting time for Downpatrick. We will soon see the completion of the New hospital, New Further Education College, New Cinema and the development of the Downshire Site as a public services centre.

For many years we have been intensively lobbying the Roads Service and Department of Regional Development for a new traffic system and an end to the daily congestion faced by locals, shoppers and tourists to Downpatrick. It is my hope that a report of this calibre will focus the Department of Regional Development on the immediate access and traffic needs of Downpatrick.

A few months ago the SDLP proposed a 10 point plan for Downpatrick’s development, which dealt with all the issues to now be looked at by the consultants working on the Masterplan. We will now present this 10 point plan for inclusion and consideration within the final Masterplan report.

Ends.