I certainly welcome this plan. It is very timely in terms of where we are as a country. There is a commitment from a multi-annual funding perspective, and it shows delivery, whether it be housing, energy, transport or water. In order to achieve delivery, however, we need co-ordination. I can give the Minister of State just one example of where modern methods of construction today are being used to reduce and mitigate the risk from a safety perspective on construction sites and also improve quality. What it is leading to are larger loads, yet we have a situation in the country where our emphasis is on supporting and investing in cycling and pedestrian pathways. When we do that, however, we put obstacles in the way of abnormal loads and exceptional abnormal loads at a time when local authorities are reducing the weight limits and putting more barriers in place for companies that are trying to transport larger loads. This is only going to get worse because of modern methods of construction. I have seen it first hand in my constituency with Banagher concrete. What it is going to see, in essence, is that if these load restrictions continue, the product portfolio and options it will have will reduce and the cost of what it will have will increase, making it less affordable for people to actually build houses and infrastructure at a time when we need rates to be competitive. I ask the Minister of State to take that point on board. We need to deliver, deliver, deliver, and that needs co-ordination. I am an advocate for cyclists and pedestrians but we need to be able to advocate, and more so in the future, for abnormal loads in order to serve and make the contributions we need to infrastructure development sites right across the country.

Sentiment score: 0.18