'Extraordinary constraints' on the Department of Justice's budget mean it is not able to provide extra money to pay for alley gates in Belfast, the department's permanent secretary says
The first alley gates in Belfast were erected by the council in 2006 and since then 1,081 gates have gone up on streets across the city.
But it can take 12 to 18 months for them to be erected after an application is made for a street to get them.The council has agreed to spend £500,000 on a new round of alley gates for over 60 streets across Belfast.More than 1,000 gates have been erected at alleyways in Belfast since 2006It had written to the Department of Justice in October 2022 asking for the department to provide an additional £500,000 to match the council's funding.
But in his response the department's permanent secretary Richard Pengelly said: "Given the ongoing priorities within the remit of the department and extraordinary constraints on our budget, the Department of Justice is not, at this time, in a position to provide funding for the alleygating programme."
Mr Pengelly said that department had helped the council in the past to fund alley gates, "albeit this has usually been on the recommendation of policing colleagues for express and pressing community protection needs". Mr Pengelly's letter has been presented to the council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee but is due to be discussed at the full council meeting on 1 December.
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