Alliance welcomes acceptance of meeting proposal on cemetery issue

12.44.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 25th Jan 2008

Alliance Castlereagh Councillor Michael Long

Castlereagh Alliance Councillor Michael Long has welcomed the fact that Castlereagh Council agreed to support an Alliance proposal to set up a meeting between Castlereagh and Belfast City Council to discuss the concerns of local residents about a proposed cemetery at Lisleen in the Borough. The proposal was incorporated into a DUP motion which was supported at last night's Council meeting which discussed the possibility of using land at Lisleen as a suitable cemetery site.

Cllr. Long said, "Alliance shares many of the concerns of local residents and landowners in the Lisleen area about the possibility of a cemetery being developed locally. We were therefore delighted that the Council agreed to our proposal to ask for a meeting with Belfast City Council to discuss their proposals for the Lisleen site and the very genuine concerns of local people.

"We feel that co-operation between both local authorities is vital so that both the proposals for Lisleen and the bigger issue of providing additional cemetery space for people across Greater Belfast can be properly dealt with. I hope that a meeting can be facilitated as soon as possible to address the concerns of local people and in, the longer term, to discuss the need to find new cemetery spaces in Greater Belfast."

ENDS