Agreement reached to move east Belfast bonfire

The bonfire at Bloomfield Walkway was seen as a danger by many because of its proximity to homes in the area.

It also made the headlines when Belfast City Council agreed to store pallets for it last summer.

East Belfast Community Initiative (EBCI) said, after reaching agreement with bonfire builders, the bonfire will be moved to a “safe space and the height of the bonfire will be such that it will not endanger the homes of any members of our community”.

Jamie Bryson, spokesperson for the EBCI, said: “This is another positive local agreement and once again demonstrates the productivity of self regulation.

“No unionist worth their salt is ever going to be regulated in their cultural expression by statutory agencies. Self regulation in order to advance our core purpose of enhancing and protecting unionist cultural expression is the only way to resolve contentious issues.

“It is important to note that the contentious issues that have been used in the past to attack the unionist community in east Belfast have been resolved with community and political support.

“We are not blind to the fact that the progressive pan-nationalist coalition will now seek to find other issues to make contentious, in order to advance their agenda of cultural agitation.

“Such an adversarial approach will highlight the real agenda behind nationalist targeting of unionist culture and prove that their insatiable demands will never be satisfied.

“We congratulate the relevant bonfire group and east Belfast loyalists, without whose leadership and forward strategic thinking such outcomes would not be possible.”