2,000 acres of no man’s land along A5 road

Landowners impacted by the A5 western transport corridor remain in a state of flux about the future of their land.

On Monday, the Irish Farmers Journal visited farms between Strabane and Ballygawley, where almost 2,000 acres seems like no man’s land while the project remains before the courts.

In November 2024, the land went under compulsory purchase orders, and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) began construction work on the first 55km stretch of the road.

Temporary fences were erected, hedges and trees were removed, and significant groundwork was undertaken in late 2024 and throughout the first half of 2025.

However, all work stopped in June 2025 when a High Court judge ruled that the road project was not compliant with NI climate change legislation.

The judgement quashed the compulsory purchase orders and all land went back to the original landowners on 27 June 2025.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins then announced in August 2025 that the ruling was being appealed, although DfI has acknowledged it could be a full year before the case is concluded.

Reinstate land

Landowners have been frustrated with the lack of communication from DfI throughout the summer, especially about plans to reinstate land back to its original condition.

DfI initially outlined three broad options, with one being that the department will take down temporary fences and reinstate land for the landowners.

Another option is that payments are made to landowners to carry out remedial work themselves.

A third option is to leave the fences and land as they are until the appeal case is concluded, with compensation paid to landowners.

More detail about this option became available in recent days when DfI wrote to landowners to offer a temporary lease agreement for the vested land.

The agreement offers a compensation payment to cover the period when the land was originally vested from November 2024 to June 2025, plus a monthly payment which will run until the outcome of the appeal is known.

Landowners’ views

The affected landowners the Irish Farmers Journal spoke to said they were not planning to sign the proposed lease agreements.

They point out that the appeal could be a lengthy process and, even if DfI win the case, it is not clear when construction work would recommence or if more delays could occur.

The option to let DfI re-instate land is not popular among landowners either. A concern is that the work will not be done to a high standard, especially with drainage systems that are buried underground.

The preferred option seems to be for landowners to reinstate land themselves. DfI has said that meetings with affected landowners will take place to discuss this, but again there is no detail about timelines or payments.

Reluctant

Most farmers are reluctant to start any remedial work until payment rates for carrying out the work are set out and agreed.

This delay has been frustrating for landowners as there have long periods of dry weather this summer which would have been ideal for fixing up land.

That said, some farmers have started taking down fences and some reseeding has taken place, although this tends to be on parcels of land where limited groundwork was carried out by DfI.

Other landowners managed to graze parts of the vested land or took a cut of silage. This involved risk of damaging machinery as debris could be laying in the grass.

In places where a lot of earth has been moved or hardfill has been laid, carrying out any farming activity is virtually impossible until remedial work is properly done.

‘There has been no clarity all along’

Omagh farmer John Robinson had 16 acres of land vested as part of the A5 road upgrade.

The temporary fences remain in place and piles of old fencing, bushes and earth are scattered throughout the strips of vested land.

He has been able to take bales off some parts of the land in recent weeks, but the rougher parts are not cuttable.

“Most farmers are not against the road. They want to get it built. But we seem to be back to square one now,” he said.

John said landowners are deeply frustrated about how the whole process has been handled by DfI. In particular, he is critical of how boundaries for vested land were marked out.

He said fields could have been left in a more convenient shape for farming, and DfI could have saved money, if local landowners had been consulted about where fences were going.

“There has been no information or clarity all along and it’s got no better this summer. The goodwill from farmers has long gone,” John said.

‘It’s a waste of money and a waste of land’

At Newtownstewart, a local farmer who wants to remain anonymous showed the Irish Farmers Journal around his land where a badger sett and a series of wildlife ponds have been constructed.

This farmer is also critical about the level of communication from DfI and said he was initially told that the ponds were for flood mitigation for the new A5 road.

He argues that instead of digging the ponds on top quality arable land beside his dwelling house, there are other sites nearby which would be more suitable.

This includes small corners of fields that have been cut off by the new road and will be of little use for growing crops or grazing livestock.

A huge volume of earth will need to be moved to leave the land back in the state it was last autumn. The cost of reinstatement work on this farm alone will be immense.

“It’s a waste of land and a waste of money. There has been no consultation, and no consideration was given to the local landowners,” the farmer said.

Department confirms lease agreement offer

A spokesperson for DfI confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that A5 landowners have received an offer to enter into agreements to hold land in its current state.

“The department is committed to keeping landowners informed and working constructively with them and their agents and will be arranging meetings with landowners to discuss the next steps,” the spokesperson said.