Latest News Items …

Our traders and businesses need your support more than ever during the disruptive roadworks on Main Street. Please shop locally and help them through this difficult period.

At the end of the fourth week the kerbs and gutters are in place, and resurfacing has begun on the first half of lower Main Street. It looks much better already!

Work has progressed well in The Square and great changes can be seen at the end of the third week.  The Square has been resurfaced and the granite pavements, kerbs and gutters are in place.

In order to better define the limits of The Square bricks have been laid into the road surface at both ends of The Square.  In the photograph below a slot has been cut into the road surface to accommodate the bricks.

By the end of the working day on Friday all of the bricks have been set in place.
This photograph is of the Main Street end of The Square.

Below is a photograph of some log art that has appeared recently in Rowallane. The bandstand that used to be on the promenade in Newcastle can be seen in the background.

Well done to all of the Saintfield High School pupils
who have achieved good grades in their exams!

Work is progressing well with the upgrade of The Square.  At the end of the second week the pavement is taking shape beside the Guildhall of 1st Presbyterian Church.

The round hole in the photograph below is where the large circular seat/planter/sign was located.
As can be seen, provision has been made for access to businesses.

At the end of the third week there were three excavating machines working on lower Main Street.  The road has been lowered to remove the camber which had built up over the years by the addition of several top surfaces, and all the underground services have to be lowered accordingly.

The severity of the camber made it very difficult for some people, particularly the elderly, to open and close car doors when parked anywhere along the length of lower Main Street.  It required a lot of effort to push open a door on the driver’s side of a car, while on the passenger’s side a door would “fall” open and be very difficult to pull shut.  When the new top surface is in place with a much reduced camber it should make life easier when parking to shop at the bottom of Main Street.

Work has begun on the upgrade of The Square. Saintfield’s car parks are still readily accessible and traders are very much open for business. Visitors should not be put off from visiting Saintfield!

The two-way traffic system is operating well.  Visitors should not be put off!

The upgrade of The Square on Comber Street is scheduled to commence on Monday 4th August.  More details of the scheme can be found HERE.