Debate contribution: Hill Street, Belfast: Pedestrianisation

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 6 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

6 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Hill Street, Belfast: Pedestrianisation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4930002

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I hope that I will not use all the 15 minutes, and I would say that everybody else hopes that I will not use all the 15 minutes either.

I thought that we would find unanimity for once in the Chamber on that. I am glad to bring the subject to the Assembly Chamber for debate today. On the subject of building consensus, I acknowledge Damien Corr from the Cathedral Quarter Business Improvement District (BID) and Belfast's night czar, Michael Stewart, who have joined us in the Public Gallery for the debate. I also acknowledge, in the spirit of building cross-party consensus, that Mr Phillip Brett, a DUP MLA, has made a lot of noise — good noise — on the subject. Hopefully, there will be a degree of cross-party support on the issue and we can make progress. We want to use our platform to advance a cause that should be straightforward. It should be a small, straightforward thing to pedestrianise one street in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast. Before I go any further, those watching the debate or who might see it later on social media may want to know more about Hill Street. Hill Street and Gordon Street, which is perpendicular to it, are, as people who have been out in the Cathedral Quarter — many have — will know, are the cobblestoned streets that host some of Belfast's most famous hospitality venues. The world-famous pubs and photo and selfie opportunities outside the Duke of York on Hill Street are well known, but it also has amazing restaurants, such as Waterman House, and venues, such as the Black Box and the Oh Yeah Music Centre on Gordon Street. It is not just an asset for North Belfast; it is a regionally significant part of our central hospitality offer in the city of Belfast. Pedestrianising those streets is not just a small, local issue; it is about maximising the economic, social and cultural benefits of that brilliant hub in the Cathedral Quarter. Lots of things in politics are really hard — they are complicated and difficult and involve trade-offs, vested interests and challenges that can be philosophical, bureaucratic and economic — and lots of other things are expensive and cost money. We live in a world of finite resources. We are a devolved Administration that does not receive enough money, and we all agree on that. Even if we raised all our own revenue, we would have a limited amount of money to spend. Lots of things are expensive and difficult to do for that reason. Lots of things are not just difficult or expensive, they are difficult and expensive. I say all that as a preamble to the debate because pedestrianising Hill Street and Gordon Street is neither difficult nor expensive. There is literally no good reason why those streets have not already been pedestrianised. A pilot was first introduced, as, I am sure, will be pointed out in the debate, by Nichola Mallon, the SDLP Minister at the time. She set up a pilot scheme, and there was some discussion or questions at that point about the pedestrianisation of Hill Street, but, subsequently, we have heard from the Minister and her predecessor about objections to that. As far as I am aware, there are literally no live objections.

I am happy to give way.

OK. I am genuinely glad that the Minister has offered that clarification, because it is now on the record that there are no objections, and none of the concerns that I have heard should be insurmountable. One of the previous questions was about the location of a car park where Talbot Street meets Hill Street, and that has now changed. I understand that the scheme has been moved slightly further down the street, and that does not fundamentally change the core purpose of the scheme. There is literally no good reason why the pedestrianisation has not happened already. One argument that has been offered and was put on the record, so it is important to challenge and call it out. Calling it out will annoy people, but the answer to a question for written answer was that austerity stopped the pedestrianisation of Hill Street and Gordon Street. It is important to say that "austerity" means a decision to constrain public spending by the UK Government and other Governments around the world, particularly in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. It was a pernicious thing and a wrong economic and political judgement that has led to all sorts of distorted outcomes, such as a squeeze on welfare spending. Austerity has had hugely destructive outcomes for people and communities in the North and, bluntly, around the Western world, but it has not stopped five grand being spent on putting in a couple of bollards in the Cathedral Quarter, and it is absolute nonsense to say otherwise.

We devalue the importance of the debate around austerity and the seriousness of that issue by saying, "Austerity stopped us pedestrianising Hill Street and putting in a couple of bollards". Frankly, saying that insults the public's intelligence and that of the traders and those who run the amazing hospitality businesses and venues on Gordon Street and Hill Street, the staff who have to come and go from them and the people who use them.

If we really cannot find five grand to close off a couple of streets in the middle of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter, I am tempted to say that, at the end of the debate, I will happily start a GoFundMe page. I am sure that the businesses in the area and others who use it would be more than happy to stick in a few bob for us to buy the bollards and do the requisite work. I do not mean to be facetious, but, at times, we need to get real about how we use language. When we bandy about terms like "austerity" in relation to putting in a couple of bollards, we need to get real.

One reason to minimise the number of road transit vehicles is to make the area more accessible for people who are wheeling, whether they are people with disabilities or are using prams or Motability devices. We want the area to be as accessible and used as possible. I want to maximise the number of people who enjoy themselves in Hill Street and Gordon Street, not just on Friday and Saturday nights but throughout the week. There are, frankly, amazing world-class pubs and venues in that area. I could list them all in order to curry favour with the businesses, but I will not. We all know what they are: places that we go to and enjoy at the weekends. They deserve to have what they think will help to make the area an even more beloved and successful part of the city. We also have the context —.

I am happy to give way.

I am glad that the Member has offered that clarification. Cost constraints were put in a written answer as a reason. I am not saying that, and I did not make it up: it was put in a response to a question for written answer by Mr Brett. We can move on from that point because we have clarified it. We can park that argument, but it should not have been made in the first place. There should not have been any delay, whatever the reason for it. There are concerns, bluntly, about the ability of the Executive, and specifically of the Department for Infrastructure. My colleague Nichola Mallon probably had to fight some of the same battles that the Minister now has to fight inside that Department. I recognise that it is not an easy Department to operate. However, we need to persuade the public that this place can deliver. We can debate lots of motions in this place that do not go anywhere, though they are important, we can publish lots of promises and we can put vague aspirations in the Programme for Government. However, it comes down to doing something as straightforward and, frankly, as easy as pedestrianising a beloved street in the middle of Belfast, which will increase its hospitality potential, make it safer, make it more attractive and protect some of its built heritage. There are cobblestones and flags that need to be protected, as was pointed out to me earlier. High volumes of road traffic, whether at peak time or vehicles using the area as a rat run during the day, does not help to protect the historic character of the area. This is something that we can do and that should be straightforward: pedestrianising a street in the middle of Belfast. People love this part of Belfast but it has challenges. We are not allowing it to meet its full potential. In a previous debate in the Assembly, we talked about the long-running farce that is the Tribeca project. In fairness, I am not trying to pin that one on the Infrastructure Minister. That is nothing, so far as I am aware, to do with her and her Department. However, it is true to say that there is amazing potential in the Cathedral Quarter. We already have a situation in which an entire block in inner north Belfast is being left to rot. That is shameful. By the way, we have also effectively been subsidising it through rates reductions, whether in the reliefs that were offered for derelict properties or some of the exemptions that were given to the organisations that own it. When we are giving a rates exemption to a derelict block, it is ridiculous that, next door, we are also not maximising the potential of Hill Street and Gordon Street.

Let us get it done. I hope that the Minister is able to give us a date today for when it will be completed. I assume that it can be done fairly quickly. I do not think that it will involve massive amounts of infrastructure, or that any planning processes will need to be gone through. Some legislative device may be needed. I imagine that we could get unanimity in the Chamber and that, if the Minister needed to bring something forward in legislative terms, we could get it swept through the Assembly really quickly. Frankly, let us finally show the people out there that we can get something done, even if it is something seemingly small and modest. Let us support our amazing hospitality offer in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast. Let us shut it off to traffic. When people go to Shop Street in Galway or Grafton Street in Dublin, they walk down a pedestrianised street and enjoy the feeling of festivity and being closed off from traffic. Why can we not get it done in Hill Street and Gordon Street in Belfast? Let us sort it out. Let us get it done ASAP. I welcome the fact that the Minister is here. I hope that she is able to give us clarity on when we will have the project completed.

1,859 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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