To ask the Minister for Regional Development to outline the impact of the budget crisis on future capital projects, including the York Street Interchange.

Mr Kennedy

My Department has a capital allocation of £328·3 million in 2015. That is some £70 million less than projected expenditure in 2014-15. However, we are still taking forward a substantial capital programme. I am pleased to inform the Member that development work on the York Street interchange is progressing well. This important project will alleviate the existing bottleneck on the strategic road network, which affects the M1/Westlink, M2 and M3. It will reduce congestion, improve the reliability of journey times and improve access to the regional gateways from the eastern seaboard corridor. A considerable amount of work is required to take the scheme through the public inquiry process, scheduled to start on 10 November 2015, and the necessary budget has been set aside in this financial year to complete this task. The scheme has already received EU funding towards design development. I am hopeful about being successful in attracting further EU funding for construction. I continue to engage with EU officials to secure further funding for this and other important projects. If there were to be any cuts to my capital budget as a consequence of the current austerity measures, I would, of course, have to review the capital programme, including the Yorkgate interchange. However, any decisions would be informed by the extent of budget reductions and a review of the progress on schemes and capital commitments existing at that time.

Mr Kennedy

I am grateful to the Member for the point that he raises. I understand it entirely, and it appears that, from an engineering point of view, that is the case. Clearly, it would be sensible that two schemes could run parallel to each other. I say to him directly, and not in any aggressive way, that I think the difficulty and challenge will be, clearly, that the financial implications of both in terms of capital are substantial. We will have to look at those issues and other capital projects, which have also been waiting for some considerable time. Members will be quick to raise particular capital projects that are of interest to them. I understand the point he has raised, but I see challenges in bringing forward a track scheme of that nature in the immediate period that we are facing.

Mr G Robinson

Can the Minister outline whether budget allocations will affect the Gortcorbies climbing lane project on the Broad Road between Coleraine and Limavady or Limavady and Coleraine?

Mr Kennedy

I am grateful to the Member, and I join with other Members to congratulate him on being a recent recipient in the honours system. Enjoy the moment. I am aware of the scheme that the Member speaks of. Indeed, there are a clutch of other similar schemes for improvements that would give considerable benefit to areas and, indeed, communities. It was always my intention that we would somehow create a pocketful of money to carry out schemes of that nature. That might even perhaps be useful to improve the reputation of the Assembly and the Executive for what they are able to deliver, but the financial situations we find ourselves in are very constrained. Whilst that scheme remains active on the books, we are not able to indicate at this stage how quickly it will further develop.

Mr Principal Deputy Speaker

That ends the period for listed questions. We will now move to topical questions.