Unionist parties appeal for removal of bilingual sign at housing estate

Unionist parties appeal for removal of bilingual sign at housing estate

1 December 2021

CONCERN has been expressed about the erection of a bilingual sign at the entrance to a Dundrum housing development.

Both the Ulster Unionist Party and TUV have called for the sign — erected at the Castleglen development — to be removed with the issue also raised with the Equality Commission.

Slieve Croob UUP councillor Alan Lewis, who has urged the management company responsible for the housing area to step in, said those who applied for the bilingual sign acted “deviously” as it only covers the entrance to the estate.

He claimed that they perhaps knew that a survey of the entire area which includes Castleglen Park and Castleglen Avenue would not have been successful.

“As only the entrance sign was changed, residents who live in this area were only consulted as per Newry, Mourne and Down Council policy. Not everyone who lives at the development was asked for their view on this sign,” said Cllr Lewis.

“Castleglen is a development which has not been adopted by Roads Service and falls under maintenance control of the Greenbelt management company. 

“Therefore, when purchasing or renting homes, residents must agree not to display any political or religious emblems. This sign which the council has erected stands as a political stamp, marking out the development as nationalist.”

Cllr Lewis said residents are upset and feel let down, explaining they purchased their homes in “good faith” and there wouldn’t be any mention of green, orange or political issues, but now find themselves in the middle of a political argument.

“These signs divide neighbours by carving this district up; majority nationalist or majority unionist streets can easily be identified by the language on the sign which names them,” he continued.

“Further consideration must be given to how these signs are seen by the wider public. A young couple seeking to build recently told me that they had withdrawn an offer on a building site after a bilingual sign was erected on the road they had chosen which indicates how divisive this policy truly is.”

Cllr Lewis alleged that nationalism is well rehearsed in the art of “public persuasion, buzzwords and endearing phrases such as equality and progression” but needS to accept that bilingual signs are far from progressive, but divisive to unionists and being used to “mark out territory”.

South Down TUV spokesman Ross Holmes, who has been contacted by a Castleglen Park resident about the sign, said Dundrum is a mixed community where people get on well with each other.

“This also is the case in Castleglen Park and now because of the sudden appearance of a dual language sign, tensions in the area have been heightened and the TUV calls on the local council to reconsider this provocative move in the interests of community relations,” he said.

“Wrote into the deeds of this development is the fact that displaying flags or emblems on a  property is not permitted, yet the irony is that the council has just erected a sign that clearly doesn’t represent the people from the British Unionist Community or comply with the rules of the development.”

Mr Holmes said he would like to know if an Equality Impact Assessment was carried out in relation to the bilingual sign at the entrance to the development and what the motivation behind it was, asking was it “to alienate and discourage any unionist from living there?”

He also asked if it was the intention of those who requested the sign to make people from the British and unionist community to feel unwelcome in their own property? 

Mr Holmes accused Sinn Fein of using the Irish Language Act “as a weapon against our community and it needs to stop”.

He added that the TUV was calling for a review of how dual language signs are applied for and approved.