Pedestrianisation confirmed of street central to Belfast nightlife

Stormont tells council chief Hill Street will be pedestrianised

A Stormont department has told Belfast Council it will go ahead with “experimental” plans to pedestrianise one of the city centre’s most popular streets.

After years of pressure on Stormont, it appears that the Department for Infrastructure will go ahead with the pedestrianisation of Hill Street, in the Cathedral Quarter, as well as the introduction of a one-way traffic system along Gordon Street.

Hill Street has become the central cultural spine of Belfast’s nightlight over the past 20 years, and concerns continue to be expressed over the dangerous potential for accidents as revellers and vehicles side by side pass through the tight cobbled thoroughfare.

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Last October Belfast councillors agreed to write to the former Minister for Infrastructure John O’Dowd to ask that he revisit a decision to put work on the pedestrianisation of Hill Street on hold. Sinn Féin MLA Liz Kimmins became Minister in February this year.

Hill Street was temporarily pedestrianised in 2020 during coronavirus>Covid by the Department, with a view to making the move permanent, but this was consistently delayed to the frustrations of locally elected politicians at City Hall. It was estimated earlier this year the proposal would cost around £5,000.

The letter from the Stormont department confirming the plans to Belfast Council Chief Executive John Walsh was published this week, as part of the agenda for the council’s Planning Committee, to be held on September 16.

It states: “I am writing to advise that the Department proposes to take forward an ‘Experimental Order’ for the pedestrianisation of Hill Street, Belfast. The prohibition of traffic, including cyclists, will operate on Hill Street, between its junction at Gordon Street and Waring Street and will include Commercial Court and Exchange Place.

“Exemptions will allow ‘loading/unloading’ between the hours of 6am and 12pm. In addition to the above prohibition, it is also proposed to introduce a one-way traffic system along Gordon Street, from its junction with Hill Street to its junction with Dunbar Street in an easterly direction.”

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