5 May 2025
The prolonged farce over the pedestrianisation of one street in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter is a basic test of Executive Minister’s ability to deliver, the SDLP Opposition Leader has said ahead of a debate on the subject in the Assembly.
On Tuesday, the Assembly will have a debate on the long-running saga of the failure to complete the pedestrianisation of Hill Street, a popular cobble-stoned street in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and central to the city’s hospitality offering.
Despite a pilot scheme years ago, the Sinn Féin-led Instructure department has in recent months made numerous, often contradictory statements on the delayed project to close the short street to traffic.
As well as citing unnamed objections – none of which have ever been made public - the Minister recently and absurdly claimed that “austerity” had prevented the delivery of the scheme, which the department has publicly said would only cost around £5,000.
The SDLP Opposition hopes to use the debate on Tuesday to force progress on a scheme which is tiny in scale but acts as a symbol of the Stormont Executive’s inability to deliver while simultaneously finding excuses to blame others.
Opposition Leader Matthew O’Toole MLA said:
“The delay over pedestrianising Hill Street has become nothing short of Kafkaesque. Endless delays, changing stories from the department, claims of phantom objections, blaming austerity for inaction on a tiny project which costs a fraction of the average ministerial overseas trip.
“All of this absurdity means it is time for the official opposition to force the issue onto the floor of the Assembly. As small as it may be, it is an important issue for our hospitality scene and nighttime economy in Belfast, with the area playing host to some of our most popular and renowned pubs, restaurants and music venues.
“This small measure is a test of Ministers. Do they actually care about delivery, or are they intent to coast along on vague promises while even small projects of negligible cost are ignored and others are blamed.”