Third survey in three years to take place over erecting bilingual Irish-English Co Tyrone road sign

The Mid Ulster Environment Committee has voted in favour of holding the third survey in three years on a Co Tyrone bilingual Irish-English road sign.

The move to hold the survey about the Rossmore Road in Dungannon is the consequence of an administrative error which had returned a false result back in December.

Following that inaccurate survey, council staff came very close to erecting the signage – in fact, they were about to put the nameplate up when they were informed of the administrative error.

It was initially thought that 60% of respondents were in favour of bilingual signage on the Rossmore Road, when it then appeared to be just 50% – just below the 51% threshold required for the provision of signage in both English and Irish.

A report furnished to Environment Committee members, on January 8, explained just how close the local authority had come to providing the signage.

“On December 6, 2023, when attempting to erect the new dual-language signage, Council was approached by several residents of Rossmore Road and an elected member, and made aware of the outcome of the survey that they had received, which contradicted the erection of the nameplate,” the report stated.

The elected member in question is chair of Environment committee, Councillor Clement Cuthbertson (DUP, Dungannon DEA), who explained, when contacted, that he had simply made a phone call at the time to point to the fact that bilingual signage was about to be erected, despite the administrative error.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s (March 12) Environment Committee meeting, Councillor Deirdre Varsani (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) explained that the Rossmore survey issue had been discussed at length by her party grouping,

“We have had quite extensive conversation and discussions on some of the issues pertaining to this in other meetings, including at full Council and at other Environment meetings,” said Cllr Varsani.

“This is the first case [of error] in approximately 450. The policy seems to be working quite well.

“There were administrative errors, there was confusion for residents, wrong information given to the Environment committee and indeed in council minutes, and as well to the chair of Council, and all of this was relayed in real time to residents of the area.

“So there was tremendous confusion caused, and on that basis I would be happy to propose that Rossmore Road is resurveyed.”

Committee chair, Cllr Cuthbertson felt that a new survey could not be justified at this time, saying: “In relation to the Rossmore Road, the survey took place in 2021 and 2023, and this was simply an administration error, and the communication to the occupiers was correct.

“Our policy says that if a request is refused, further requests will not be considered until the expiry of the 12 months from the date at which the Environment committee refused it.

“I think we have to deal with each request in a consistent manner, and I’m going to propose that is it is held for the 12-month period to expire.”

Councillor Mark Robinson (DUP, Clogher Valley DEA) concurred with that view: “The policy clearly states that there’s a 12-month period which must be passed before it is reconsidered. I think it’s important that we stick to the policy.

“I accept Cllr Varsani’s issue that there was an administration error, but that didn’t change the outcome of the survey, the survey still says the same and I don’t know how that has an impact on why we should change this policy.

“There may have been 400 other nameplates, that’s fair enough, but why should we change the policy just because of an administrative error?

“I mean, the policy is there for a reason, and I think we should stick to the policy, so I second that proposal.”

Cllr Varsani insisted that her call for a new survey was justified.

“I understand what’s being said, but as was raised previously at point 7 of the policy it does say ‘in specific circumstances’, and I think we can all agree that because of the amount of time and toing and froing and all of this in consideration of Rossmore Road, there are specific circumstances,” she said.

“So for all the reasons previously outlined, including the council chairman having conversations with the residents, I think it is appropriate to have it brought back here and to be recommended for a vote.”

Cllr Cuthbertson disputed the contention that the policy justified a new survey: “It doesn’t say in policy that it’s the role of the chair to inform residents.

“There is a a box that you tick on the letter if you want correspondence back from the council, and a number of people did tick the box and the correct correspondence was sent out, so it’s not a matter for the chair of the council to inform people in relation to the dual language signage results.

“Because Cllr Varsani’s proposal is going against policy, I think probably we should take a vote on that first.”

Cllr Robinson quoted one particular passage of the policy, which states: “Policy aim: to ensure that requests for the erection of dual language nameplate signage for existing streets are delivered in a fair, equitable and consistent manner’.”

The DUP representative felt that there was no consistency in Cllr Varsani’s proposal for a new survey, saying: “This isn’t consistent, this is an exception, it’s not meeting with the policy aims and objectives. I think we need to take that into consideration as well.”

Concurring, Cllr Cuthbertson said: “I totally agree, Cllr Robinson, It’s not a consistent matter, and the amount of time and money that has already been spent on this issue in surveying the road in 2021 and 2023, and the amount of staff hours in relation to this as well.

“It it is a waste of money to propose to survey it again for a third time.”

A vote was taken on Cllr Varsani’s recommendation for a new survey, with nine committee members in favour, and four against.

The recommendation was consequently carried.