Anyone else fed up with the outlandish road planning decisions still being made in Belfast City Centre?
We are in the middle of an existential climate crisis and from the outside it appears like the DFI Del Boys have no notion about what works.
I can’t tell you how many times I huffed, puffed and rolled my eyes at the waste of taxpayers’ money on that very weird get-up down Adelaide Street.
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It’s like a row of pretend pylons, undercut by a raised road for planters - and not a cycle lane in sight. At least smokers are getting some use out of the new plants, going by the number of butts in their soil.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m aware transformation takes time but there appears to be absolutely no joined up thinking going on here. The buildings in front of these reclaimed car parking spaces are all offices. It might have worked had they been pubs or grub spots - but they’re not. It’s a row of offices with some apartments on the end.
Adelaide Street is a major city centre centre route and I honestly can’t understand why they didn’t add a bike lane in - or are we just doing one every few streets because cyclists don’t deserve to be safe on all roads?
It’s great the powers that be are thinking about how to repurpose car space and 10 out of 10 for that - but can we get a citizens assembly on the go for this or something as some of the decisions being made by the professionals are downright ridiculous.
Here’s what we should ask the people before any more crazy moves are made:
- Do you want the city centre around City Hall and Royal Avenue/High Street to be pedestrianised?
- Should we have separate bike lanes on every road?
- Should we prioritise walking, wheeling and cycling in the city centre?
- Should we have train stations at the airports, hospitals and universities?
- Should there be two rows of parking spaces down most roads?
I could make an educated guess on the answers to some of those questions and from what I have seen online, I think the DfI dinosaurs have a long way to go to catch up with popular thinking on most of these things.
The city’s road are wide. On most you have one, two or three lanes of traffic flanked by car parking down each side.
I know DfI probably makes a few quid from those through the Just Park app and the car parks it owns, but honestly lads, we need to get serious. I scratch my head in disbelief every time I walk past the teeny tiny cycle lane on High Street - where did it come from and where does it go?
We have pedestrian areas that are just one big fat lie and don’t even get me started on inaction about pavement parking that is literally endangering lives.
Then there’s the serious amount of flack you are taking online from people with far better ideas than you.
@CircleLineBelfast is on the money with their campaign for a commuter train route around Belfast, linking to both airports.
Would you believe Translink’s train from Belfast to Derry literally goes past the end of the runway at Derry Airport and they still have no stop there - joke.
The Circle Line campaign is also right about the need for a station near the new Ulster University campus and more bridges connecting TQ with other parts of the city - since it’s such a tourist hotspot. And I have written before about how we’ve no train station at the city’s biggest hospital - RVH - even though it runs across the back of the new transport hub.
It’s like DfI is filled with clowns who haven’t a clue how to plan and deliver a linked up public transport system with people at its heart - and that’s despite the well documented impacts of active travel on health, emissions and the public purse.
Oh, and we’ll be waiting a while for any meaningful cuts to bus and train fares like in the Republic, despite the cost of living crisis.
Moves like these above would be gamechangers for active travel here and just imagine the impact it would have on air quality and emissions.
It’s great that these things are on John O’Dowd’s mind and we do need funding for the changes needed. But we need to make a decision for once and for all and stick to it. The time for half measures is long gone - are we aiming to be like Amsterdam and Paris or not?
A DfI spokesperson said the cycle lane at Castle Place cost around£77,000 and will in time “link up with other cycle lanes” as part of the Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan2022-31.
They stated the Adelaide Street scheme was done in conjunction with the council to develop “greener, more accessible, liveable and age friendly spaces” in Belfast. It cost £489,000 and they added “bike parking facilities were included as part of the scheme with a two-way cycle lane already available on the adjacent Alfred Street”.
More Ork needed by the department to fight climate change
John O’Dowd was off at the UK Islands Forum held on Orkney to talk about Rathlin’s plan to be a “net zero island” by 2030 this week.
The press release I got suggests climate change and the levelling up fund, which is supposed the sweeten the blows Brexit has dealt, were at the heart of the conversation.
“It is vital that we all take urgent action to mitigate climate change and we can learn from the experience of island communities as they take on the challenge,” he said.
And you know what, I agree John.
Your department could make a massive impact when it comes to the climate crisis - but it’s not.
So how about giving those really thinking about the future the chance to shape our much-needed active travel push and telling the old boys still stuck on cars to pipe down.
Charity right to take stand against the government
It's really good to see charities across the UK and NI sticking up for biodiversity and the environment against Westminster.
Conservation groups, including RSPB NI, say believe “nature and the laws that protect it across Northern Ireland are under attack from the UK Governments Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill”.
John Martin, Head of Policy & Advocacy at RSPB NI, said: “This Bill is extremely worrying.
“It is already clear this could create the single biggest change to environmental legislation in a generation.
“The bill is unprecedented in scope, covering laws that protect species, and habitats, and set standards for air and water quality.
“We fear a bonfire of environmental laws will have disastrous consequences for Northern Ireland’s natural environment,” he added.
“We support maintaining and strengthening the current regulations on habitats and we would be opposed to anything that threatens this.”
Honestly, with the stunt Liz Truss’ government just pulled for the rich and frackers, I wouldn’t put anything past them and with biodiversity increasingly seen as a big a threat to humanity as climate crisis, nature needs all the help it can get.
Bird species in trouble
This week I urge you to write to your MPs, DUP and all, and tell them how you feel about the decimation of laws protecting nature.
We know from a global report released this week that 50% of birds are under threat.
On the island of Ireland they are worse off, with 63% of bird species ‘in serious trouble’.
And BirdLife international say their decline “paints the most concerning picture yet of the future of avian species and, by extension, all life on Earth”.
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