A new illuminations policy for Lagan Valley Island has been approved which will see no limit put on lighting up the civic centre

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council’s (LCCC) corporate committee was presented with a report on a new application window for lighting up the civic centre in solidarity with charities and important events.

Groups were previously required to apply for an illumination throughout the year as their particular day of support drew close. The new policy will now provide the council with a full year of illumination dates approved at the same time.

The previous illuminations policy caused controversy in May 2022, when a request to light up Lagan Valley in support of Irish language by ‘An Dream Dearg’ and another request by Ards and North Down Borough Council in solidarity with people in war torn Ukraine were both refused.

An Dream Dearg was declined as its application was not received within two calendar months and the request was not from a registered charity, formally constituted group or public body.

The Ukraine request was denied due to the policy of one illumination per group in any 12 months with Lagan Valley Island already lighting up earlier that year for Ukraine.

A council officer said: ”There will be about a five week window for applications to be made from various charities etc, and they will be notified of this. “There will be no maximum or cap on how many illuminations there can be per month. We are quite confident that we will not go over demand.

“On the last policy we had a maximum of 60 illuminations per year and we usually reached about 40. This will also help with any potential clash of dates as most groups can be flexible over about a week or either way.

“As for social media tracking, all media will originate with us, so we will have the records, we will also be engaging more with the groups on online traction.”

Committee chairperson, Nicholas Trimble (UUP), thanked the officer for her “robust response”. The new illuminations policy is understood to be ratified and rolled out later this year.