Three requests for bilingual English-Irish street signage in various residential areas of Portadown have been approved.
The residential areas in question are Obins Drive, Ballyoran Crescent and Drumcree Road Mews.
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-thirds 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 Obins Drive, a total of 34 residents were surveyed, with a majority of two thirds required (a minimum of 23 residents in favour of bilingual street signs).
Of the responses received, a total of 28 were in agreement with the application request, which is well above the required threshold.
Six households elected not to take part in the survey, and they were assumed to be against the request, as per ABC policy.
The request for bilingual street signage was listed as an agenda item at the June 4 ABC Planning & Regulatory Services committee meeting.
The recommendation to approve the request for bilingual signage was proposed by Councillor Paul Duffy (SF, Portadown DEA) and seconded by Councillor Mary O’Dowd (SF, Craigavon DEA).
Alderman Gareth Wilson (DUP, Cusher DEA) requested a recorded vote, stating: “Just reading through the detail on this one, I do note that officers haven’t been made aware of any other views in this matter, so I’m assuming that no written [objections] or any other concern was put into the consultation responses.
“On that basis, I would like a recorded vote on this one, as per our previous positions on signs which meet or exceed the threshold.”
Head of Building Control, Tom Lavery informed him: “We haven’t received any written or verbal objections to this particular application.”
Councillor Scott Armstrong (DUP, Armagh DEA) seconded the proposal for a recorded vote.
As always, the outcome of the recorded vote highlighted a split along party lines. Voting in favour of allowing the council to use its discretionary powers to approve the application were committee chair, Councillor Kevin Savage (SF), Councillor Mary O’Dowd (SF), Councillor Fergal Donnelly (SF), Councillor Paul Duffy (SF) and Councillor John Óg O’Kane (SF).
Abstaining were Councillor Scott Armstrong (DUP), Councillor Julie Flaherty (UUP), Alderman Gordon Kennedy (UUP), Councillor Kyle Moutray ((DUP) and Alderman Gareth Wilson (DUP).
The recommendation to approve the bilingual street signage was consequently carried.
In the case of Ballyoran Crescent, eight residents were surveyed. A two-thirds majority of six residents or more was required, and the request did meet the test, with seven residents in favour, and one non-response deemed to be opposing the request.
Again, Ald Wilson requested a recorded vote, stating: “I know sort of three on the list here, they’re all quite similar in their backgrounds and circumstances, and again I’m assuming the ‘no’ response was simply a non-response without any further detail.”
The outcome of the recorded vote was exactly the same (five in favour, five abstentions), and the request was approved.
In Drumcree Road Mews, the two-thirds majority threshold was comfortably met, with 29 residents in favour out of 31, and two non-returns.
Ald Wilson asked for another recorded vote. The outcome, once again, was identical, with the same five committee members in favour, and the same five abstaining.
The request for bilingual Irish-English street signage was consequently approved.
