A recommendation to approve Irish-English street signage at Churchill Gardens, in Craigavon, has been delayed further as councillors were informed at Monday night’s (February 24) ABC monthly meeting that last-minute legal advice has been received on the matter.
Referring to the Craigavon housing development, chief executive of Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council, Roger Wilson told all gathered at the meeting: “Just literally in advance of this meeting, we received some legal advice in connection with one of the items in this committee.
“It’s recommended that the particular matter, the dual-language street naming, is brought to the Planning & Regulatory Services [meeting] at next week [on March 5], and that the matter is deferred until that point in time.”
There were no objections to the request.
Rules governing the provision of bilingual street signage are particularly strict in the ABC Borough.
Related: More than required two thirds of residents voted for Irish-English signs but decision deferred
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 councillors ultimately use their own discretion when ruling on such requests.
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 (82 per cent) 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.
Should formal approval be granted at next Wednesday’s Planning & Regulatory Committee meeting, Churchill Gardens will become only the second housing development in the ABC borough to be granted bilingual Irish-English street signage, after Woodside Gardens, also in Craigavon.
