Plans to survey unionist area of east Belfast over Irish language signs could raise ‘community tensions’

Plans to survey residents over Irish language street signs in a traditionally unionist part of Belfast could increase “community tensions” it has been warned.

Members of a Belfast City Council committee this week rubber-stamped plans to carry out street surveys in the Upper Newtownards Road area, to see if locals wanted their street signs to include Irish alongside English.

The proposal was passed despite objections from unionist councillors and a warning from a council official over the response by locals to the consultation. It will now be voted on at the next full council meeting.

However, a councillor has warned that overriding the council policy on bilingual signs would set a “dangerous precedent”.

The surveys would be carried out under a policy introduced in 2022 that means one single resident of a street can trigger a survey of their neighbours to determine if they agree to bilingual signage.

Just 15% of residents are required to back the new signs in order for them to be installed. Under the previous policy, 33.3% of residents were needed to agree to the survey, and 66.6% required to agree to new signage before it would appear.

Surveys have been carried out across Belfast and have led to new street signs being installed, with an estimated cost for each sign, including the consultation process, at £1,000.

On Tuesday evening, the council’s People and Communities Committee agreed to a survey of residents along the mainly unionist Upper Newtownards Road, along with the Ormeau Road area in the south of the city.

However, the council’s director of planning and building control, Kate Bentley, told members that surveying in the areas “has the potential to give rise to community tension, as could the erection of street signs”.

She added: “It is also acknowledged, however, that the process could alternatively assist in promoting cultural and linguistic diversity.”

Ulster Unionist councillor Jim Rodgers, who represents the Ormiston area where some of the streets will be surveyed under the plan, told the Irish News he was strongly opposed to it.

“I have been swamped with people complaining about the issue of street signs, and not just from Protestants, but also members of the Catholic community too, as this is about how rates are spent,” he said.

“People are amazed and horrified that as a council which has implemented the highest rates increase anywhere in Northern Ireland, this is the sort of thing that we would be committing money too, especially in parts of east Belfast where the signs will not be welcomed.”

Mr Rodgers described the 15% threshold to trigger the surveys as “abysmal” and said he agreed with the council official going ahead on that basis in a unionist area would “heighten tensions”.

“People have said to me that such signs would be taken down, and that comes with the cost to ratepayers of replacing them,” he said.

However, Botanic SDLP councillor Gary McKeown, who sits on the People and Communities Committee, said all residents in the city should have the right to be consulted.

“It would have been completely unacceptable to even consider stopping people living in these streets from having their say on the proposed bilingual signage,” he said.

“There’s no point in having a policy if councillors are going override it and dictate the outcome without even engaging with the community.

“This would be wrong, and would risk sending out a signal that the council thinks people in certain streets can’t be trusted to engage in the process in a mature and reflective way.

He added: “It would also set a dangerous precedent. People need to be able to contribute to the process to inform the ultimate decision on signage in any street where it has been requested.”