O’Loan welcomes phone cabinet move

The Councillor said he had highlighted the positioning of the cabinet at the junction of the Largy Road and Ballymena Road with BT twice in the past six months and commended the company on their ‘quick and sensible’ response which proposes moving the structure some 65 metres from its current position.

He said: “As you go down the hill towards the Forest Park coming from Ballymena, there is a sharp right hand bend, and the cabinet was just opposite this. There was a big risk if a vehicle didn’t make the corner, it would hit the cabinet, and that is what has happened.

“Phone lines have been down for a number of days on each occasion and that caused great disturbance with the loss of broadband in particular.

“Now BT are going to move the cabinet 65 metres towards Portglenone and that should solve the problem. It may take up to three months to complete the work which is substantial,” said the Councillor.

He added: “Roads Service have been doing major resurfacing work in that area too. I have been talking to them to ensure that the two works will not conflict, which they won’t, and they are re-laying the high friction surface too, so hopefully such accidents will not happen again. Road users need to exercise care and keep speed down at this location.”