Belfast Council is urging Stormont to close off a section of Fountain Street in the city centre.
The appeal comes amid a standoff between City Hall and the Executive over pavement cafes remaining on Fountain Street and Castle Street. The department is asking the council to revoke temporary pavement cafe licences by two Fountain Street businesses, Voodoo public house and venue, and City Picnic restaurant.
Voodoo has a pavement cafe on Fountain Street, while City Picnic has one on Castle Street. Stormont is asking the council to end this arrangement, and free both streets to two way traffic, while negotiating for new locations for pavement cafes.
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The council in June 2020 decided to introduce a temporary process for considering pavement cafe applications to assist the hospitality sector during the pandemic. It will expire on September 30, 2023.
The majority of parties, all except the DUP, voiced support for the pavement cafes remaining in the busy city centre area. The council’s Licensing Committee deferred the decisions until December 14.
At the recent full meeting of Belfast City Council, elected members backed a proposal from Alliance Councillor Sam Nelson for council officers to write to the Stormont Department for Infrastructure asking it to close off a section of Fountain Street away from traffic.
Chief Executive John Walsh said before the councillor spoke: “No decision has been made on this yet, and it has to come back into committee. The committee is quasi-judicial so I would caution you not to get into this tonight.”
Councillor Nelson said: “This does not relate to the decision of the committee itself on the night - as I understand that was deferred. I want the council to agree that in the meantime we write to the Department for Infrastructure and ask them to look at partial road closure for Fountain Street.
“It gives them a little bit of time to look into it, and we can then protect pedestrians by erecting bollards. This will not relate to the cafe pavements themselves.”
Since the Bank Buildings inferno of August 2018, until the reopening of Primark last month, a section of Castle Street had been cut off to traffic, and Fountain Street since has effectively become a cul-de-sac. However now that Castle Street has fully reopened with the removal of hoarding, Stormont is arguing Fountain Street has to open to traffic or face health and safety issues.
An official from the department told the Licensing Committee last month: “There is a significant probability of a serious accident occurring and as the authority we cannot accept that risk.” He added: “If ultimately pedestrianisation does happen, there will still be the need to safely service the businesses on Castle Street and Fountain Street, to avoid what is happening at the minute.
“What is happening is that service vehicles are having to reverse on Fountain Street through a pedestrianised area, and they are having to reverse also up Castle Street towards the junction at Queen Street.” He said it was “a dangerous arrangement” and added the situation amounted to “technically a public road being blocked by a pavement cafe.”
This comes despite the council revealing in October early stage plans to push the department to permanently pedestrianise Castle Street between Castle Place and Queen Street.
The plan follows a strategy described in “A Bolder Vision” - a document created by the council along with the Stormont Department for Communities and Department for Infrastructure. It prioritises walking, cycling and public transport, and creation of “lively, safe and green streets,” an end to “car dominance,” a north/south “civic spine” of safe green movement, and a promotion of affordable city centre accommodation.
A council report states: “The removal of the Bank Buildings hoarding has a close alignment with the Bolder Vision Strategy, which remains subject to final Ministerial sign-off from the DfI in relation to the civic spine and the level of public transport penetration of Royal Avenue and Donegall Place, and subsequently Castle St and Castle Place.
“The strategy was developed at risk based on a one-way south-bound public transport movement on Donegall Place and Royal Ave, a west-bound movement only on Castle Place, and Castle Street pedestrianised between Queen Street and Castle Place.”
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