The Department, and in particular DfI Roads, receives a large volume of correspondence from the public, and public representatives throughout the year. Indeed, the level of correspondence has been increasing in recent years at a time when staff resources have been reducing.
In a large number of cases the correspondence relates to reports of individual defects on the road, such as potholes, blocked gullies, defective street lights etc. In order to improve efficiency the Department now deals with correspondence which is only reporting routine defects differently from other general correspondence. Therefore if a member of the public, or public representative, writes to the Department by letter or e-mail, reporting a routine defect then our staff will simply log this information onto our work systems and an automated response detailing the query reference number will issue to the correspondent. Staff will then deal with the query received in accordance with our maintenance standards.
In order to reduce the volume of general correspondence reporting routine defects, we are encouraging the reporting of defects through our on-line “Report a Fault” section on NI Direct. Alternatively a phone call can be made to one of our telephone operatives who will record the details directly onto the “Report a Fault” system. You can report a fault on-line at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/ or by telephone to 028 9054 0540.
If the initial letter relates to a more general roads issue rather than simply reporting a defect, a substantive reply will issue in the normal way, in accordance with timeframes set out in the DfI Customer Charter. It is noted that the vast majority of dealings with the public are by phone or email and the number of visitors to our offices has reduced considerably as communication methods have improved. However Section Offices will be open to the public from 10am - 12noon with meetings outside of this able to be arranged by appointment also.