Portadown: Churchill Gardens bilingual request could result in second English-Irish signs to be erected in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon borough

The application will be before the full meeting of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council on Monday, February 24.

If approved, Churchill Gardens will become the second local area to be granted English-Irish signs after Woodside Gardens.

It will also be the third-ever area in the borough to have met the criteria, the first one being Woodside Hill, Portadown.

Despite being recommended for approval, the request for dual-language signage was actually rejected at Woodside Hill – a controversial decision which is the subject of an ongoing judicial review.

Rules governing the provision of bilingual street signage are particularly strict in the ABC Borough.

As per ABC’s Street Naming and Numbering Policy, a third of residents in any given area have to request bilingual signage in the first place.

If that first test is met, then all residents are canvassed, with a two-third majority required for a recommendation to be made for ABC councillors to approve bilingual signage – by virtue of it being a recommendation only, residents’ wishes can still be disregarded in the end, as happened in the case of Woodside Hill.

In addition, those deemed to object also include residents who did not express a view one way or the other.

In the case of Churchill Gardens, 57 residents were surveyed, with a minimum of 38 responses in favour (two thirds) required for the request to be recommended.

Of the responses received, a total of 47 responses were in agreement with the application request for dual language signage.

A total of 10 responses were deemed to object to the request – either because the residents in question had expressed opposition to bilingual signage, or through failure to respond.

Planning & Regulatory Services committee members were given an opportunity to air their views on the issue at their February 5 meeting.

Alderman Gareth Wilson felt strongly that caution should be exercised when reviewing such requests, adding: “It’s not about allowing it through, we’re legally bound to consider all the views of all the people on the street, that’s the rule, and we haven’t let anybody down on this issue.

“We have a very responsible policy, as can be seen, and I’m committed to delivering the right decisions on these issues going forward, as we have done.”

Referring to the presence of bilingual street signage in parts of Belfast close to the M1 – Ald Wilson clarified afterwards that he wasn’t referring to bilingual signage on the motorway itself – the DUP representative for Cusher DEA continued: “We have to look down the main motorways to see what a shamble some of the policies are for people, and they’ve caused nothing only disharmony and division, whether people like it or not.

“I haven’t been speaking to any people in those councils. What I’m looking at is the copious amounts of media coverage on them, and they’re not something to be proud of in many respects.

“So I’m keen to avoid that here. It’s a major part of public representation to be responsible, and I won’t apologise for being responsible.”

Referring to current judicial review proceedings in relation to Woodside Hill, Councillor Peter Lavery (Alliance, Lurgan DEA) remarked: “I just have to come back on the comments by Ald Wilson. He’s saying that we haven’t made any bad decisions thus far in this.

“We’re in an active ongoing judicial review process regarding the first application that’s come through this committee, which met the policy.

“It obviously caused a lot of upset for people in that street who roundly endorsed the application at that time.

“That decision, which was taken by 21 out of the 40 representatives on this council, is going to set council back the guts of £100,000.

“Now, as ratepayers I don’t think we can just ignore that, both the cost financially that it will bear for this organisation and the reputational damage, because unfortunately this organisation has ended up in the headlines as well regarding the lengthy delay process in bringing forward a policy.

“Obviously we’re getting into this whole debate regarding a particular application.

“Even the one that made it with 100 per cent still was dragged out by a couple of months for Woodside Gardens.

“I mean, we can’t keep going around these circles every time an application meets policy or doesn’t meet policy, because it’s going to continue to cause damage to communities, and ultimately damage the council financially, which may be found liable in any potential judicial review or other legal process.

“So, to say that everything’s fine and dandy here, and it’s all thumbs up, I honestly don’t know what Ald Wilson’s talking about, quite frankly.

“As I said before, I would encourage other parties to reflect on the views of residents when these applications come to force, and that we act with integrity.

“And if the policy does meet the two-thirds criteria, we have to endorse that, and give these residents what they desire.

“Ultimately, that is our responsibility as local representatives, to act with integrity and to deliver for constituents, whether it be health, education, or in this case a couple of signs, rather than going in these needless debates which create disharmony, as Ald Wilson has discussed.”

Also referring to Ald Wilson’s comments, Councillor Mary O’Dowd (Sinn Féin, Lurgan DEA) said: “I totally agree with Cllr Lavery. We’re already getting bad headlines because this keeps on getting knocked back, and we’re in a JR (Judicial Review), so I don’t know why you’re worrying about bad headlines when we’re already getting them.”

Responding, Ald Wilson stated: “This is only our third application. We don’t have to look too far to see real-time disharmony on these sorts of issues.”