Belfast being robbed of rates by the DUP

The leaked memo from Environment Minister, Edwin Poots, to the First and Deputy First Ministers has been well reported. Behind it is another story of border politics and cash grabs on the southern fringes of Belfast City.
Mr Poots and Mr Robison’s, new Lisburn – Castlereagh council was set to loose the valuable rates from the Forestside Shopping Centre in south Belfast to Belfast City Council under the original boundary proposals. This seems to have irked the DUP and Minister Poots who has decided to take Forestside back (and all its cash) and in return give Belfast the Robinson Centre and Dundonald Ice Bowl in the east of the city which are expensive to run and bring no cash in for the local authority.
I live in South Belfast. The reality of is that those of us paying rates in this part of the city are paying for a big chunk of the Council’s services across the city. We shop in Forestside and yet will see none of the benefits from its rates coming back into the city it so relies on for its trade. What Min Poots is proposing is that Belfast rate payers take on another loss making leisure centre but be denied the rates from a shopping centre they all use.
No wonder people think the boys on the hill are a bit of a joke.

McDonnell gets commitment from NI Water

SDLP MP Alasdair McDonnell has been lobbying Minister Conor Murphy and NI Water to take steps to end the deeply distressing and ongoing flooding and sewage overflow in South Belfast.

The local MP has been given a commitment from NI Water, that until the point where the Belfast Sewer Tunnel comes fully into use, staff will immediately man the River Terrace pumping station when heavy rainfall is forecast and the River Lagan is at high water level. This staff presence will help reduce the possibility of flooding and sewage overflow in your area during periods when the risk of flooding is high.

NI Water has also assured the SDLP that a series of steps have been taken to clean out the pumping station following the recent flooding in River Terrace and that a rapid response cleanup crew has been set up to respond immediately should any further flooding occur.

Belfast City Council GAA take on Dublin City Council

The games took place in Dublin on Friday 23rd October and both the men's and ladies football teams did Belfast proud with stunning victories.

The Belfast Men's team proved too much for the Dublin side with a win of 4 goals 12 points to Dublin's 1:6.

The Belfast ladies also shot to victory. They played a spectacular game winning by 2 goals 9 points. The final score was Belfast Ladies 3 goals 9 points, Dublin 1 goal 4 points.

South Belfast Councillor Pat McCarthy who watched the matches with Dublin Lord Mayor Councillor Emer Costello said the Belfast Men and Ladies teams did the city proud.

"I always look forward to, and thoroughly enjoy, this event.

"This is the third Gaelic competition between both Councils.

"It's a great way to forge and build personal and professional relationships and gives officers in both cities the chance to learn best practice from each other.

"Both the Belfast Men's and Ladies' teams did our city proud as I'm sure they will again next year".

Big increase in cyclists and pedestrians being knocked down in South Belfast

South Belfast People has obtained figures from the local District Policing Partnership which show a 52% increase in the rise of road traffic collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists in South Belfast over the past 5 years.

Most experts say there is a direct link between this type of accident and traffic speeds. Ask anyone living in an urban area and they will be worried about traffic speeding through residential areas. The problem is particularly acute in South Belfast.

Speed bumps, chicanes and cameras have all been deployed to keep motorists at 30mph in built up areas yet the simple fact is that you still stand a one in five chance of being killed if hit by a vehicles travelling 30mph.

Drop the speed of impact to 20mph and the chances of surviving skyrocket (only one in forty chance of being killed).

We are asking people to support the 20s Plenty campaign to get the speed limit reduced to 20mph.

The big issues - survey results

Over 500 South Belfast residents have completed the South Belfast People community issues survey.

Respondents were asked to names the issues which most affect them. Here are the results so far:

Education & 11plus - 65%
Planning & over development - 56%
Traffic & speeding - 59%
Hate Crime & Sectarianism – 56%

Community Survey

If you live in South Belfast please take two minutes to complete this short community survey about the issues affecting people in this part of the city.


Click Here to take survey

Hate Crimes

SDLP representative for South Belfast Carmel Hanna has condemned the attack on the City Church where some of the Romanian community had been sheltering after fleeing their homes.
Mrs Hanna said; “We must all come together at this time to condemn this latest attack to show that this sort of behaviour is not going to be tolerated in our society so that we can isolate those who are responsible for the latest spate of attacks. It saddens me that most of the Romanians will be returning to Romania as it sends out a bad message whereby the perpetrators of these attacks have won. Whilst I acknowledge that we must respect the personal choice of those returning to Romania, this is not a solution to the problem in the long term, and we as political representatives must work together to combat racism in our society.”