To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any assessment her Department has undertaken of the cumulative traffic impact upon the (i) Saintfield Road; (ii) Primrose Hill; and (iii) Ballymaconaghy Road network, Belfast, arising from (a) completed; (b) committed; and (c) proposed residential development within this corridor.

Consideration of traffic impacts upon the local road network as a result of residential developments is considered as an integral part of the planning process. The local area plan defines the areas considered suitable for development and identifies key site requirements necessary to ensure appropriate infrastructure is in place to support the development levels identified.

My Department acts as a statutory consultee in the planning process and for each planning application of an appropriate scale a detailed transport assessment is carried out to ensure that the development does not adversely impact the local road network.

The assessment process takes account of completed and committed developments and includes modelling of affected junctions to determine whether proposals can be accommodated appropriately. This approach has been applied to all residential development proposals in the Saintfield Road, Primrose Hill and Ballymaconaghy Road areas.