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That was the update presented to members of the Environmental Services committee at the October meeting. Director of Environmental Services, Aidan McPeake, told members that while there is no bespoke policy for bilingual signage, his team was currently working on a review of council’s overall Street Naming and Property Numbering Policy, which contains a section around bilingual signage. The comments were made in response to a motion by Sinn Féin Councillor Sean Bateson, requesting a “review/report on the Council’s Bi-Lingual Signage Policy” to be presented at next month’s committee meeting. Cllr Bateson said the policy – which currently stipulates that street sign changes will only occur if two-thirds of residents approve – had not been reviewed for more than a decade. He said that council had a responsibility to be “reflective of the communities we serve” and regular reviews of policies were both best practice of council and the recommendation of the Audit Office. Cllr Bateson added: “While most of our policies are reviewed on a rolling basis this one has not been, and that needs to be rectified.” “To be clear, this is simply bringing the policy in line with standard of council procedure and ensuring that it continues to serve its purpose effectively and fairly. “Unfortunately there has already been some public commentary that has mischaracterised this request, I must stress that… no discussion has occurred in this chamber, [and] it is disappointing to see a measured, procedural step portrayed as otherwise. “I proposed that this policy be brought back for review, preferably before Christmas, and going forward be included in the normal cycle of periodic policy reviews like all others. “This is about good governance, fairness and respect for the growing role of the Irish language in our council area.” DUP Councillor Dawn Huggins questioned the “rationale” of Cllr Bateson’s timing in light of Belfast City Council’s recent approval of a new Irish language policy, which will see increased use of Irish across Belfast. She amended the motion asking for officers to look at the review timelines of all Environmental Services policies, so “every policy is getting reviewed in the correct manner”. Sinn Féin Councillor Leanne Peacock agreed with Cllr Huggins’ amendment, so as council can avoid “outdated data and ineffective policies”, but argued that the motion was “not impacted by what is done in other councils”. “I think we need to focus on our work here in Causeway Coast and Glens and not get too carried away with what other councils are doing,” she said. “But certainly I would agree all of our policies should be on a rolling review basis.” UUP Councillor Richard Holmes argued that policies do not need to be reviewed “all the time” if they are “working”. “I would caution that we’ll get officers and managers hung up on reviewing policies,” he said. “This policy’s been in place for ten years and as far as I can see it’s working quite well. “But if you want to bring them back and review them, I look forward to that meeting.” DUP Alderman and committee chair, Sharon McKillop, agreed that if a policy was “working well”, the council should “leave [it] well enough alone”. Mr McPeake agreed to return a list of polices, as well as their review due dates, “as soon as we possibly can”. “It was on our business case for this year to review the Street Naming and Property Numbering and policy,” he noted. “It’s not quite ready, realistically we should have a draft ready before Christmas, but I can’t guarantee that so we’ll do our best to meet that time scale. “There are elements within the policy that I want to make some amendments to, not necessarily the dual language element, but...if the members wish to change that, that will be at their own discretion. “But there are tweaks that I need to make on a policy that’s ten years old, in relation to street naming in general. “I’ll be highlighting those elements [and] if members want to change any other element that will be up to yourselves as the decision makers.” TUV Councillor John McAuley said he was concerned around “what’s next on the agenda” after the review. He concluded: “I think that it’s just a case of Sinn Féin dipping their toe into the water to see how they can push things.” “The next thing then we’ll be looking [at] signage changed on bin lorries, uniforms, the whole lot, costing the taxpayers thousands of pounds, probably.”
