Belfast Council to employ more staff to cope with dual language street sign demand

Belfast Council has revealed it will employ three new staff members dedicated solely to dealing with the deluge of applications for dual language street signs.

Details emerged in a report compiled for the council ’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, involving minutes of the most recent meeting of the Language Strategy Working Group.

The policy covering requirements for the erection of a street sign in a language other than English changed in July, following a public consultation survey indicating support around 58 percent. Since then the council has received 500 requests for dual language signs - it is suspected the vast majority of these will be for Irish signs.

The report states: “Approval has been granted for three additional staff members to be recruited on a temporary basis who will be focused on dealing with the applications once recruited and trained. It is hoped these officers will be in post by December 2022.”

It adds: “Since July 15th, Building Control Service has received over 500 requests for street signs in a second language. Most of these requests required further information to be sought from the applicant, and all needed a response in relation to the accompanying privacy notice - officers are working their way through these requests.

“The service is awaiting an appointment with the Electoral Office to get the details of residents in the first batch of 15 streets and is aiming to send out members notification in respect of these applications by October 3rd 2022. This member notification process will replicate the process for notifying members in relation to planning applications that relate to their DEA or within the City Centre.

“The purpose of the notification is to allow members to raise any potential adverse impacts on equality, good relations or rural needs in relation to the proposed street sign. That representation must be sent to the Director of Planning and Building Control within 21 days of the notification."

It adds: “If either the elected member notification or the initial assessment identifies a potential adverse impact on equality, good relations or rural needs the application will be referred to the committee for approval to proceed to survey. The process for the initial assessment is being finalised but that assessment will initially include officers from Building Control, Good Relations, Equality and Diversity Unit and Legal Services.

“Timeframes for a final decision in respect of applications will be dependent on a number of factors including the size of any street surveyed, whether the application has to be referred to the committee and current resources as officers prioritise the tasks.”

In July councillors agreed the controversial new policy would finally be implemented - 18 months after the policy was originally agreed in the chamber. Sinn Fein, Alliance, the SDLP, the Green Party, and the People Before Profit Party all support the new street sign policy, while the three unionist parties, the DUP, UUP and PUP, are against.

The new policy means at least one resident of any Belfast street, or a councillor, is all that is required to trigger a consultation on a second nameplate, with 15 percent in favour being sufficient to erect the sign. Non-responses will no longer be counted as “against” votes, and there will be an equality assessment for each application.

Up until July, the policy required 33.3 percent of the eligible electorate in any Belfast street to sign a petition to begin the process, and 66.6 percent to agree to the new dual language sign on the street.

A consultation survey held in the summer showed the Belfast public approved the new dual language street sign policy in the city, with support around 58 percent. Belfast City Council is currently working on a draft Irish Language Policy and a dual language logo.