They all end up on the hard shoulder…

They’re about to jump start the Executive again. We may see a new face behind the wheel at the Department for Infrastructure with fresh ideas about how to get us out of our cars and back on our feet. It’s a good time to glance in the rear-view mirror and see what we can learn from the last comeback.

After driving the peace process for almost 30 years, the SDLP found themselves stranded on the hard shoulder post Good Friday Agreement. Searching for a new vehicle, a new destination, and a way to get there fast – on the 11th Jan 2020, the SDLP seized their opportunity. Nichola Mallon nabbed the Green Party’s roadmap, grabbed the keys to the Department of Infrastructure (DFI) and the party headed off, on what they’d hoped would be a long road trip, to a political rebirth.

DFI has a wide remit – roads, water, flood defence, public transport and active travel. It covers a lot of ground (most of it in tarmac). Adding a pandemic and staff shortages to that list must have been unbelievably challenging. However, with traffic levels at an all-time low Mallon was presented with a once in a generation opportunity to reconfigure transport in urban areas.

The Walking & Cycling Champion

On the 5th of May 2020 she stood at the dispatch box in Stormont and mapped out an ambitious direction for her Department where “cars would be visitors in our towns and cities”.

A key announcement was the creation a new “Walking & Cycling Champion” – a co-pilot to guide her. The new Walking & Cycling Champion would “work with councils across the North to identify and transform areas quickly” and “ensure DFI delivered its commitment to increase the % of journeys made by walking and cycling”.

It turned out her co-pilot spoke a different travel language, didn’t know the terrain very well and was only available 1 day a week.

While cities across Europe sped ahead, Northern Ireland was trying to reverse out of the driveway. There was clearly something seriously wrong under the bonnet.

MOT

As Mallon struggled in the driveway, her party colleague – Matthew O’Toole (then Finance Spokesperson and member of the Public Accounts Committee) – was under the bonnet of the NI Civil Service, giving it a thorough inspection. Remember, at this stage the NICS didn’t even have a driver. It failed the MOT – the certificate noted “the NICS needs a radical overhaul”.

A week later she tried the accelerator again – announcing the closure of 2 tiny narrow, ancient cobbled streets in Belfast, barely wide enough to cycle down let alone drive a car.  Surely a Minister for Infrastructure could close a few cobbled streets? The U-turn came a year later.

In May 2021 – a year after her keynote – her department had only managed to deliver a few temporary cycle lanes scattered around Belfast. Nothing in Derry City or anywhere else in Northern Ireland. Mallon began to look exposed.

Brake!

With a part time co-pilot, no accelerator, and the vehicle going in reverse – the only thing left to try was the brake. She braked at the York Street Interchange and did a hand-brake turn at the Mallusk incinerator. It turned out all she had was the brake. Nichola Mallon’s legacy may be the things she stopped – rather than the things she started.

One of her department’s final road safety initiatives was the announcement of low level planting and an art project to tackle speeding and road safety at the Crumlin Rd roundabout in March ’22. The car had finally conked out.

On the 5th May 2022 – two bruising years to the day after her keynote speech – the voters asked Nichola Mallon to hand back the keys. She lost her Ministerial job, and her Assembly job all in an afternoon. The SDLP announced they would be going into opposition as they had no prospect of a ministerial seat.

“They all start off in the driving seat – they all end up in the boot…”

Like all her predecessors, she failed to change the direction of the Department for Infrastructure. They all start off in the driving seat – they all end up in the boot, hostage to old policies, old thinking, and cultural inertia.  Car ownership and car journeys continue to rise. Active travel levels remain where they were at the signing of the GFA 25 years ago.

Achievements

Any of Mallon’s potential achievements will be claimed by others. She faced down her own department, forcing a review of the York Street Interchange. The revamp – if built – should improve how residents in the New Lodge and York Street connect to the rest of the city. The All-Ireland Strategic Rail Review (released in July ’23 without a minister) boldly restitches Ireland back together again, on paper at least. Her push to establish an Infrastructure Commission may yet be the game changer she claimed – who knows? The delivery plan for the Belfast Bicycle Network finally saw the light of day – but is currently decades off schedule.

What about her Walking & Cycling Champion – announced to a flurry of good publicity? At the All-Party group for Cycling (8th June 2023), DFI confirmed the role of Walking & Cycling champion had been scrapped. So much for the “commitment to increase the percentage of journeys made by walking and cycling”. It’s still at 1%. More rope-a-dope from DFI.

How much was Mallon’s fault and how much was DFI’s? The driver was clearly up for the journey – she and her party were perhaps naïve in thinking the vehicle was too. Perhaps it’s a minor miracle she achieved anything at all. The head of DFI roads recently stated that his department had ~450 vacant posts (25–30% of his department) – and has “insufficient staff to deliver what the law requires”.

Like Dorothy pulling back the curtain at the end of the Wizard of Oz – Mallon’s lasting achievement may be revealing how powerless the DFI minster is. We now know it is all just smoke and mirrors at DFI.

Tyre kicking

With the SDLP back on the hard shoulder, John O’Dowd borrowed the keys to DFI and took it for a 6 month test drive. He had the chance to kick the tyres, look under the bonnet and decide how far it can take Sinn Fein – or if they really want to get into the driving seat at all. Sinn Fein hasn’t shown huge interest in transport let alone active travel but O’Dowd did manage to kick the hornets’ nest down at the Bannfoot while he was there. The A5 and the All-Ireland Rail Network look tempting from an all-Ireland perspective – but these are decades away and a myriad of problems still lay hidden in the weeds.

 

Alliance is the only party of the “big 5” not to have had a crack at Infrastructure. They usually take Justice, but have an extra pick this time around. Andrew Muir chaired the last Infrastructure Committee and is also chair of the APG for cycling. When pass-the-parcel starts during the D’Hondt system – Alliance might be tempted if Infrastructure lands in their lap. If they are tempted – they’ll be managing a department with “insufficient staff to deliver what the law requires” let alone the deliver any additional vote-winning projects. One ray of hope is the Climate Change Bill – that commits DFI to spend 10% of their annual budget on Active Travel (~£80M). However, with staffing levels so low they’ll struggle to spend it efficiently – if at all.

In 25 years, DFI’s record in charge of active travel, looks similar to DAERA’s record in charge of the environment. Whoever picks up the keys to DFI next, getting the vehicle road worthy – at the very least – should be their number one priority.