To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail what partnership arrangements her Department has established with local councils to enable litter collection along arterial A Roads.

Under the Litter (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011) the removal of litter from a public road is for the most part the responsibility of the relevant local Council. My Department’s responsibilities in this regard are limited to ‘designated roads’, which includes the motorway network and ‘special roads’ such as the A12 Westlink.

No formal partnership arrangements are in place with councils, however there are occasions when the Department will assist local councils with traffic management on roads to allow litter picking to take place. For example, Councils may be given prior notice of when the Department is planning to close roads, including arterial ‘A’ roads, for maintenance works allowing councils the opportunity to carry out a clean-up whilst the road closure is in place.

My Department will continue to fulfil its obligations on those roads for which it is responsible and when appropriate my officials will alert councils if we identify roads which fall within their remit that have an accumulation of litter that requires attention.