North West 200 route should be poster free: Hickey

AN SDLP councillor says that the NW200 route should be free from election posters.

Alderman Maura Hickey’s call comes as the Assembly voted to ban election posteres along the route of the Giro D’Italia.

Councillor Hickey has the backing of the Minister of the Environment, Mark H Durkan who is supportive of the idea and will pursue it in the future.

She said: “On this occasion there isn’t time for my proposal to be included in the current legislation being drafted and it will be necessary to get the co-operation of the various political parties to ensure that the route of the North West 200 is election poster free for both the European

and council elections.

“There have been incidents in the past were election posters have blown off poles into the path of oncoming vehicles. You can image the health and safety issues if one of these giant posters was to fly into the path of a bike travelling at high speed. It could be a life and death issue.

“The minister has indicated that he will review the current draft legislation which has the approval of the committees at Stormont and the overall endorsement of the Assembly. The minister will consider such a ban for elections in the future should they coincide with the North West 200 or indeed any of the other road races.”

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