Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader and Agriculture spokesperson Diana Armstrong has said farmers along the A5 route face being short changed, after the Infrastructure Minister confirmed in the Assembly that land vested for the scheme will be compensated at November 2024 values.

Raising the issue during the Minister's statement on today's Court of Appeal judgment, Mrs Armstrong asked whether farmers whose land was vested in November 2024, returned in June 2025 and is now to be vested again would be compensated at 2024 values or at today's market values. The Minister replied that under the legislation the valuation remains at November 2024 and that it was not within her remit to change.

Diana Armstrong said:

“That answer will land badly with every farming family along that route, and it should.

“These farmers had their land taken in November 2024. It was handed back in June 2025 when the vesting orders were quashed. Now it is to be taken again, in late 2026, and they are to be paid prices from two years ago.

“Every other cost in this project moves with the market. Contractors, materials, labour, professional fees, all at today's rates. The only thing frozen in time is the land taken from farmers. A farmer paid at 2024 values cannot go out and buy replacement land in today's market, because that land is not available at that price any more. The shortfall does not disappear. It simply falls on the farm family instead of on the project.

“The Minister told me this is not within her remit to change. I would say this to her. Saying the law produces an unfair outcome is not a defence of that outcome. It is an argument for changing the law. Legislation has been brought to this Assembly for a great deal less.

“The Minister also said every case will be looked at on its merits, and I want to know what that means in practice. If the valuation date is fixed in statute, what discretion actually exists? Farmers deserve a straight answer rather than a reassuring phrase.”