Sinn Féin and the DUP have blocked a Green Party plan for Belfast Council to pedestrianise streets in the city.
At the full meeting of the council at City Hall this week, the two largest parties opposed a motion by the Green Party’s NI leader Mal O’Hara for Belfast City Counci l to come together to demand a devolution of local transport powers away from Stormont. Outside of Northern Ireland, councils throughout the UK, the Republic of Ireland and across Europe have local powers over transport and related infrastructure.
The Green Party NI leader in particular highlighted the regenerative powers of pedestrianisation, singling out Union Street in the city centre as a success story during the meeting at City Hall.
Read more: Sandy Row residents don't want "gentrification" at Weaver's Cross development, DUP says
Councillor O’Hara said in an earlier statement: “It is ridiculous that local councils do not have these powers. Any other city our size across Europe would already hold them. During the pandemic, urban areas across the world transformed.
“They reprioritised road space away from private cars and created space for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. In Belfast almost 40 percent of households do not have access to a car or van, so walkability, cycling infrastructure and good public transport are vital.
“Those urban areas also enhanced public space to support retail and hospitality to bounce back in a safe manner. This was all done at pace and totally transformed urban areas and cities.
"Our Executive and successive ministers with the powers to do this completely missed the window of opportunity. Declaring a climate emergency is not enough - we need radical and innovative action and these departments, and ministers have failed.”
Alliance, the SDLP, People Before Profit and the PUP supported the Green motion, while Sinn Féin, the DUP, the UUP voted against it. In the end the vote was 35 against the plan, and 21 votes in support of the plan.
DUP Councillor George Dorrian said: “Whenever planning powers came to the council it was going to be the panacea - that hasn’t happened. We still have the same challenges now.
“We do want to see a lot more ambition, however we don’t buy this argument that transferring all the powers to us is going to deliver anything faster. What we need is for the departments, for those responsible, to step up.
“Response times for example are abysmal, we know that, in terms of consultations. But we need to look at why that is happening, address that, not simply transfer the powers from one to another. There is no guarantee that is going to change anything.
“What we would prefer is for the departments to work much more in a partnership approach. We know where their weaknesses lie, and we need to keep pushing more at them.
“Local government in its entirety is going to face challenges over the next few years. So really is this the time for us to be looking for substantial new powers around transport and infrastructure? Is it time to take these new responsibilities when we need to consolidate what we have?”
Sinn Féin Councillor Caoimhín McCann told the chamber: “The wording of the motion is very unclear and does not outline whatsoever to what extent powers would be devolved to this council. Further, it doesn’t really make any reference to how this would be funded.
“In the midst of the current economic crisis it would be difficult to see how the council would foot the bill for an unknown amount of resources. While we appreciate the difficulty with speed in some departments, the initial assertion from the motion ignores the systemic reason for these difficulties in Stormont departments.
“That is namely the lack of fiscal manoeuvrability afforded the Executive, as well as over a decade of Tory austerity and economic mismanagement from Westminster. To meet the infrastructure and climate goals, a fine balance needs to be struck between centralisation of certain powers and decentralisation of others.
“It would make very little sense to fracture a system which has made brave steps towards the greening of the infrastructure, and it would significantly increase the cost of big capital infrastructure projects, as we would be seeking to reduce the level of finance that we would have the ability to tap into.
“In this sector the best means of delivering infrastructure and transport is closely linking our council plans together with these larger departments, and adopting a multi agency approach to deliver an effective transport and infrastructure for the people on the basis of objective need.”
READ NEXT:
-
Ormeau residents victory as council rejects 1am license for new £8m hotel on site of church
-
Belfast City Council looks into big investment plan for city parks
-
Belfast Bright Lights festival cancelled after public outcry
- Belfast Council warned of "crisis of confidence" in cleansing services as city labelled "dirty"
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
