DUP Challenges Council Decision Over Dangerous Bonfires

The DUP is to challenge a Belfast City Council decision on tackling dangerous bonfires.

Earlier this week, the local authority backed a motion by Sinn Féin to allow council officers or contractors to remove bonfire materials from sites which threatened lives or property.

The motion states: "This Council is opposed to rogue bonfires where they present a threat to life, to property, to the environment, where they cause damage to public amenities and where they facilitate hate crime activities.

"On the basis of these concerns this Council gives permission to our Council officers to remove bonfire materials or employ contractors to facilitate the removal of bonfire materials from Council sites and other sites which belong to Statutory Agencies and those which are in private ownership."

Despite Unionists and the Green Party voting against the motion, it was carried by 31 votes to 21.

However, the DUP has now 'called-in' the decision, meaning an independent legal position is likely to be sought over the motion.

Alliance Cllr Michael Long said the move by the DUP was "disappointing".

"Alliance supports respectful and safe expressions of culture, but these powers are in relation to dangerous bonfires, no other ones," he said.

(LM/MH)