Council officer tells elected reps the delayed letters do “not change the figures in terms of meeting the 15 percent” for signs already approved
Belfast City Council is conducting an investigation into the hold-up by Royal Mail of hundreds of resident responses to Irish dual language street sign surveys over the summer.
Elected representatives at the council’s monthly meeting of its People and Communities Committee, held this week in City Hall, were informed that no dual language street sign requests would be on the agenda due to irregularities in the post this summer.
A council officer said at the meeting: “We became aware in June this year the response rates to our dual language street signs surveys were unusually low, and so we undertook significant investigation internally, and subsequently with Royal Mail.
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“We identified an issue which has resulted in a number of responses to the surveys that were using the pre-paid envelope being held by Royal Mail at the delivery centre. Further investigation found that amounted to around 375 responses that were being held at the delivery centre, with an unconfirmed number being sent through by Royal Mail to their return centre.
“In late July we recovered the 375 responses held at the delivery centre, and while Royal mail haven’t been able to confirm the numbers at the return centre, we are aware of a handful of responses being sent back to the people who filled in the survey, because they have been contacting us to make us aware.
“Unfortunately Royal Mail don’t keep a record of the numbers that have been sent back, so we can’t get that from them. Royal Mail are now returning the remaining mail held at the return centre to us, and we have received three batches of those to date, and we are expecting more, although the numbers are dwindling.”
She added: “In terms of what that means for the dual language street sign application, officers have worked through the return mail we have got, and have determined that none of the applications taken through this committee in June, and then ratified by the council in July, have been affected. So, all of the decisions that are being implemented are not affected by the mail that has been held.
“When we became aware of this as a potential issue, we paused processing the applications and surveys that were to be reported to this committee. There were a small number of additional responses for those streets included in those held at the delivery centre, and so what we will do is adjust the results of those surveys, and we will report them to next month’s committee for consideration.”
She said: “There are currently a number of live surveys, that is 19 live dual language street sign surveys. We are continuing to determine the impact of the responses held at the delivery centre, and of those still coming in from the return centre, on those applications, and we will report any proposed actions on those surveys to the next committee.
“We are continuing to investigate the timeline around this, and the circumstances that led to this situation, and I will be bringing forward a report to consider steps to avoid this happening again in the future.”
DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting said: “I think this incident is unfortunate, and it further undermines the confidence in the process that many were already sceptical about. It does raise questions around some signs which previously have come through this committee, where we had residents raising to us that they hadn’t received consultations.
“It isn’t the first issue we have had raised around the consultation process, previously we had issues raised of properties with no letter boxes, and so on. Regardless of anyone’s position on dual language street signs, there is urgent work that needs to be done, to try and restore trust in the consultation process that comes from this council.
“Can we be sure, without re-surveying, that the adjustments (will lead to) a true result from those consultations?”
The officer replied: “Regarding the ones that were to be brought before this committee, the numbers that have come through from both the return centre and the delivery centre are minimal.
“They are not actually impacting on the actual results of the surveys, they are just slightly changing the numbers. It does not change the figures in terms of meeting the 15 percent. Those ones we can be very confident in.
“It is the 19 we are currently out assessing where we will have to resurvey all of them.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly said at the meeting: “We are well aware of the massive backlog, which the team is doing a great job of working through, but missing a month (of consultation) is concerning for us. There really needs to be a thorough investigation into this – it is really unacceptable that this lapsed, and it should have come to light before this.”
She said: “This should be top of the agenda. We need to make sure that anything in relation to any language is held in high esteem.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are not aware of this specific issue but will always investigate any concerns raised with us. If Belfast Council can share further details, we will look into the matter.”
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