To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to (i) confirm which footpaths are owned by Transport NI in Portaferry; and (ii) provide a map marking which footpaths are within his Department/Transport NI ownership and which are not.

I should clarify for the Member’s benefit that there are subtle differences between the adoption, ownership and maintenance responsibility of footways and indeed carriageways. In the majority of cases the Department/TransportNI does not own the footways but has control over them, including for maintenance responsibility, by virtue of the handover at the reorganisation of local government in 1973 or for more recent developments by way of formal adoption under the Private Streets (NI) Order 1980.

In many cases the householder owns the bed and soil below the footway. As such, a map as requested is not readily available.

I am assuming the Member may have a particular location in mind and if this is the case I would ask you to contact the local TransportNI Section Office in Newtownards with the details of the request so that the status can be established.