Warning over roads maintenance budget

The Malone Road has fully reopened after part of the road subsided.

The work had been ongoing since Sunday night to fix the surface.

It had caused traffic back-ups in Belfast on Bank Holiday Monday.

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “Following reports on Sunday evening of a small area subsidence on the carriageway at Malone Road between Eglantine Avenue and Wellington Park, Malone Road was closed in both directions to allow investigations to take place.

“Following a full excavation of the affected area the defect was repaired, the road reopened and traffic was flowing normally by 8pm on Monday evening.”

However, South Belfast MLA Claire Hanna is hopefully the issue will be resolved during the course of the afternoon.

Part of the busy Malone Road in Belfast remains closed, after a sink hole opened up on the tarmac surface.

Diversions were put in place at Wellington Park and Eglantine Avenue.

SDLP councillor Declan Boyle said the road had been closed since around 7.30pm on Sunday.

"Tomorrow morning, schools are back. There will be 10, maybe 20,000 vehicles using that road tomorrow morning," he said.

"If it's not fixed today, it's going to cause a major impact tomorrow morning.

"There's no point coming with a flood of yellow jackets and clipboards tomorrow morning - they should have been there last night and they should be here today.

"It should be up and running by tomorrow morning."

Police have closed part of the Malone Road in Belfast after subsidence caused an indentation in the tarmac.

Diversions have been put in place at Wellington Park and Eglantine Avenue.