Questions asked as some NI parks are open, while others remain closed

Questions have been asked over why some public parks in Northern Ireland are open to the public, while others in certain council areas remain closed.
By Graeme Cousins
Published 20th Apr 2020, 06:45 BST
At Victoria Park in Belfast pedestrians and people doing exercise can enter the park on foot but vehicle access has been restrictedAt Victoria Park in Belfast pedestrians and people doing exercise can enter the park on foot but vehicle access has been restricted
At Victoria Park in Belfast pedestrians and people doing exercise can enter the park on foot but vehicle access has been restricted

While some parks remain havens for dog walkers, joggers and pram-pushers, others have shut their gates to those seeking a breath of fresh air.

The problem for many people is the inconsistency.

In the Belfast City Council area all parks remain open, and a similar vote was taken to keep parks open in Mid and East Antrim.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In other areas, some parks are shut while others are open, the circumstances often coming down simply to the fact if it’s possible to close off all access points.

UUP councillor Stuart Hughes believes Lisburn and Castlereagh took the right decision to close all of its parks: “I’m the biggest advocate of personal responsibility, I really want to trust people to make their own sensible decisions, but unfortunately the safety aspect of it has to come first.

“It comes back to social distancing, can you enforce social distancing in all the facilities you keep open. The only people who have the legal authority to enforce that are the PSNI. You’re relying on a certain amount of goodwill.

“Moving forward there’s going to need to be a degree of pragmatism on the part of all statutory bodies if we’re going to see a prolonged period of social distancing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Personally speaking I’m comfortable with the decision we’ve made and where we’re at at the minute.

“Other councils may take different approaches on parks, I know they have in Belfast, but I’ve seen a lot things on social media where car parks in places like Lady Dixon Park are full.

“The message is stay safe, stay at home. There’s no point staying at home for 23 hours and then going out and wrecking it for an hour.”

As for recycling centres, only in the aforementioned Mid and East Antrim area are there amenity sites available to dump material that is not allowed to go into household bins.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mark Baxter, a DUP councillor on the Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon body, said his party, along with the SDLP, tried to get amenity sites reopened but their bid was opposed by other parties on the council.

He said: “It is our party’s view that we could open them in some sort of a managed way that you could have an appointment-based system for people in the borough so that you could have social distancing.

“It’s an essential service, without it you have flytipping and people lighting fires.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor

Related topics:QuestionsLisburnBelfast City CouncilMid and East AntrimUUPCastlereagh