Sinn Féin Councillor asks: “What was the whole point of this exercise, if we haven’t got the resources?”
Belfast council officers have admitted that City Hall has no money for the new lighting required to facilitate 24 hour opening of parks, nor any timetable for proposed trials.
Over the summer results from a public consultation in Belfast on extended opening in some of its most popular parks were revealed by council officers.
Elected representatives learned that consultation findings showed the public wanted extended opening hours in Botanic Park, Ormeau Park, and Belmont Park, but not in Falls Park and Woodvale Park.
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However the proposals for 24 hour opening trials, which Sinn Féin have been eager to implement across the board at the five parks, as well as the new Forth Meadow Greenway, have seen controversy. The DUP successfully proposed that Woodvale be “decoupled” from the exercise, while campaigners opposing 24/7 opening of Botanic Gardens are challenging consultation results.
Woodvale Park has now been dropped for 24/7 hour opening proposals, while Stranmillis Neighbourhood Association will give a deputation before councillors over the pilot opening hours scheme at Botanic Gardens next month.
The council however will go ahead trial 24 hour opening for the Forth Meadow Community Greenway, without new lighting, despite a mixed response from a public consultation. The greenway trial will commence in April 2026. The council says it is preparing up to six separate animation plans for the greenway costing £90,000.
Sinn Féin successfully proposed the 24 hour trial for the new greenway, which travels through North and West Belfast into the City Centre. The plan had to go to a vote, where the DUP opposed 24 hours opening across the whole stretch. The gates along the greenway currently follow a dawn to dusk schedule for opening.
The officer report for the P and C Committee states: “Similar to other council parks sites at community interfaces, a Forth Meadow Community Greenway gate closure protocol will be in place throughout the pilot, which can be activated for any of the gates in response to a security assessment by the PSNI. “
At the September meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee, officers admitted that there was no money in this year’s budget to provide the new lighting that would be required in the remaining four parks for extended opening.
A report for the committee states: “Ensuring park safety through artificial lighting and additional security was highlighted by residents as a requirement to extended opening hours at all park sites (Botanic Gardens, Belmont Park, Falls Park, Ormeau Park, Woodvale Park), and in particular those currently not benefitting from lighting (Botanic Gardens, Ormeau Park, Belmont Park).
“Members are reminded that the installation of any new lighting infrastructure requires significant capital investment. Further to Members discussion at August’s P and C Committee, officers can confirm that artificial lighting at the park sites have been included within the ‘Park Improvement Programme’ which is currently a Stage One “Emerging under the Capital Programme,” which has enabled feasibility monies to be allocated.
“This feasibility support will now allow studies to be progressed to develop costed options for each park site, to include lighting and other safety measures, and will be informed by ecological assessments and further engagement. There is no timetable for the work at present, however officers are aware that members would like to see this work completed as soon as possible and are working with colleagues in Physical Programmes to expedite this work.
“Once this has been completed for each park officers will bring proposals back to members that will also include animation plans, security and patrolling measures, including costings.”
At the September meeting, Sinn Féin Councillor Micheal Donnelly said: “We had a consultation, this has been an extensive, ongoing piece of work, and we thrashed it out at committee last month. We now have a report coming back basically saying we haven’t got the money to implement what we want to do, so everything is put on hold.
“To me that is more than frustrating. What is the point of bringing a report to the committee in August, to then come back again, after we voted as a committee to implement 24 hour opening in parks apart from Woodvale, to be told in September we have no money to implement it?
“What was the whole point of this exercise, if we haven’t got the resources? That we haven’t got the resources for lighting columns, and for staff? Should this have not been thought out before going to a consultation, before going to the public, and before going to this committee.”
Council officers ran an open survey on the council’s Your Say platform from February to April this year and held five drop-in engagement sessions – one at each of the park sites throughout March and April. The aim of the consultation was to capture residents’ views on extending opening hours of the Botanic, Ormeau, Belmont, Falls and Woodvale Parks.
The five online surveys had a total of 1678 responses. Botanic Gardens received 652, Ormeau Park received 593, Woodvale Park received 308, Belmont Park 51 and Falls Park 47. The combined number of responses for Falls Park across two consultation exercises – the 24 hour opening survey and another for 24 hour opening of the Forth Meadow Greenway gate – was 203.
Consultation feedback confirmed community support for extended park opening hours at Botanic Gardens, with 70 percent of responses in favour, and 4 percent undecided. It also showed support at Ormeau Park, with 70 percent of responses in favour, 3 percent undecided. The consultation for Belmont Park also showed support, with 71 percent in favour and 6 percent undecided.
Across these sites, the most favoured opening hours pattern was overwhelmingly 24 hours opening, however there were a number of concerns raised in relation safety and antisocial behaviour, and the need for more security to facilitate extended use. The need for artificial lighting to ensure park safety was highlighted as the main physical barrier to extended opening hours across all park surveys. Concern over the impact of artificial lighting on wildlife was a theme across all park surveys, with the need for ecological assessments and use of wildlife and bat friendly lighting suggested by a number of respondents.
Although there was support for Fall Parks’ opening hours being extended, this was not in line with the views of the majority of overall respondents for both consultation exercises, including the more detailed Forthmeadow Greenway consultation. Overall, 58 percent of the 203 respondents for both consultation exercises were against changes to opening hours of specific gates and the park in general.
There was no clear support for extending the opening hours of Woodvale Park, 65 percent against, with the main reason being antisocial behaviour concerns.
The requirement for artificial lighting to facilitate extended park use and ensure safety during darker hours was raised a total of 956 times across all surveys.
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