Irish street names on East Belfast main roads will 'stir division' says DUP, as Upper Newtownards Road among bid for dual language signs at council meeting
Belfast City Council was last night (4th) to hear a bid to have Irish street names placed on several main roads, including major routes in the east of the city where the idea is generally held to be unwanted.
Upper Newtownards Road, which links several overwhelmingly unionist areas as well as running past Stormont and the Ulster Hospital, may have dual language signage in both Irish and English placed along its multiple-mile length.
And according to the DUP, the move could have been triggered solely because a single person who lives on the road thinks it would be a good idea.
Ahead of last night’s meeting, Democratic Unionists argued that the council’s method of selecting which streets are put forward for Irish language signage needs to change.
They expected a council committee to issue surveys asking residents of the nominated streets whether they want dual language signs – even though council officials warn that the act of surveying some of those areas might spark trouble, predicting that “adverse impacts” could happen as a result.
Upper Newtownards Road runs for roughly four miles, from the Connswater Shopping Centre in Belfast through Ballyhackamore and on to Dundonald on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Other East Belfast streets suggested for Irish language signs include Belmont Avenue in the Strandtown area and Victoria Road in Sydenham.
Another major route, Ormeau Road in South Belfast, has also been put forward; a mixed area that has been heavily gentrified in recent years, it has many pockets of Unionism where dual language moves would be greeted with disapproval.
Two residential roads in the Ormeau area, Delhi Street and Burmah Street, have been nominated too, as have some streets in heavily Nationalist areas.
But the moves on city main routes such as Upper Newtownards Road and Ormeau Road have angered the DUP.
Councillor Sarah Bunting said she doesn’t think the party will win enough votes to stop the committee sounding out opinions on Irish language signs in some traditionally Unionist areas, and fears the result will “stir division”.
"The applications for Irish language signage to be erected on these streets highlights the numerous absurdities of the current dual language signage policy,” she said.
"That just one person living on a street the length of Upper Newtownards Road can apply for dual language signs along the entire run of the road allows for a huge waste of money, and of staff time.”
Current council policy states that if at least 15% of residents surveyed want dual language signs, they’ll be built. Ms Bunting argues that’s far too low a threshold.
“If only 15% of residents in these streets want it but the other 85% don't, signs are erected anyway,” she said.
"It causes division, it makes communities feel they are having decisions forced upon them, and it causes a lack of confidence in council policies and elected representatives overall.
"The DUP will be voting to not [survey residents] on these streets as we don't think we should be stirring division in these settled communities – I would urge members of the other parties to rethink their positions on this policy.”