Political dinosaurs must move on - Ekin

12.55.10pm GMT Fri 17th Feb 2006

Former Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Ekin has expressed exasperation on behalf of residents, shoppers and workers in South Belfast, due to a piecemeal approach to planning.

The Alliance Councillor, who represents Balmoral, stated: "There seems to be no coordinated planning effort in this part of the city. People are wondering who on earth is in charge of planning?

"Parking is 30 years behind the rest of Europe, a total nightmare. Yet all we get are 'pilot studies' with no obvious outcome on behalf of residents and local businesspeople.

"We build new buildings to house new hospital facilities, new health administrative centres, new housing developments, new Apartment blocks, new shops, and yet there is no new effective method of addressing the parking problem other than let people park where ever they want.

"At a rough guess about 1000 new employees will move to a 100 yard stretch of Lisburn Road, with no obvious mention of additional public transport or parking. This is grotesque.

"Do residents have to simply have to watch as the 'parking creep' continues to ruin our lives?

"And yet all our politicians are interested in is out-greening or out-orangeing each other. The sooner the political dinosaurs get out of the way and allow people with real vision and real leadership skills to solve our real problems, social and economic, the better."

ENDS