A Belfast councillor has called on City Hall to drop the traditional July holiday and resume a full schedule of council business.
Alliance Councillor Kate Nicholl has called for Belfast City Council to meet over July, and not take its normal summer break, a move she says “is essential in this time of crisis.”
The Balmoral councillor made a formal request to the Chief Executive on Wednesday, and the issue will be debated by the Group Party Leaders forum.
The DUP and Sinn Féin so far have resisted calls for regular meetings to return before August.
Councillor Nicholl said: “Belfast is now the only Council in Northern Ireland that won’t be meeting ahead of this self-imposed August date and it is simply not good enough to allow council business to take place behind closed doors until the DUP and Sinn Féin see fit otherwise.
“It is very unlikely that we will have moved through all stages of the Executive’s lockdown easing plan by this summer and the on-going pressures from this pandemic will be continuing to impact all aspects of everyday life for all of us."
She added: “As Councillors we must be able to retain the lines of communication at this difficult time, yet we have been forced to have a break from meetings by those who are quite happy with how things are progressing. We should not then be rewarded by another break in July.
“It’s time to give the decision making powers on everyday issues back to elected representatives. Leaving this until August is simply not acceptable.”
The majority of Northern Ireland’s councils have already started to hold full council meetings, which Belfast is yet to do. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council, Derry and Strabane Council, and Antrim and Newtownabbey Council have already announced they will resume full schedules of council and committee meetings virtually in June and July.
Belfast Councillor Donal Lyons, SDLP party group leader, has sent a letter signed by the group leaders of the other six party leaders to the Lord Mayor requesting a special virtual council meeting, visible to the public, to discuss resuming a full schedule of meetings virtually.
