{"id":735138,"date":"2026-08-12T01:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735138\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T01:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:58:19","slug":"consultation-due-on-belfast-city-centre-pedestrianisation-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735138\/","title":{"rendered":"Consultation due on Belfast city centre pedestrianisation expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has said she will bring forward a consultation which will include proposals for the expansion of pedestrianisation in Belfast city centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Kimmins highlighted the recent success of Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann, the all-Ireland Fleadh, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cedje1nwe2po\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dozens of streets were closed to traffic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She said this &#8220;clearly demonstrated the benefits of pedestrianisation and has led for calls for a more permanent solution&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Kimmins said it was her ambition &#8220;to reshape our town and city centres to put people first, creating more attractive, accessible, and vibrant places while reducing car dependency and encouraging sustainable travel choices&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;My department has already been working diligently behind the scenes to prepare a new transport plan for the Belfast area,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;In the next few weeks, I will bring forward a consultation which includes proposals for the expansion of pedestrianisation in Belfast city centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I want to hear everyone&#8217;s views on these proposals to ensure that everything we do is accessible for all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The pedestrianisation debate has long pre-dated the Fleadh, but calls for it to be introduced on a bigger scale have ramped up in the last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Representatives from the Alliance Party have written to Belfast City Council and other bodies calling for a &#8220;comprehensive review of pedestrianisation&#8221; in the city centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, disability campaign groups, such as Disabled People Against Cuts Northern Ireland (DPAC NI), said pedestrianisation could exclude many disabled people from accessing the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">DPAC NI spokesperson Dermot Devlin said that &#8220;many disabled people can only walk or wheel short distances&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has said she will bring forward a consultation which will include proposals for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}