The Newington Residents Group are calling on Nichola Mallon the Minister of Infrastructure and the Department For Infrastructure to stop the proposal of a cycle lane on the Limestone Road and Cavehill Road until all residents, local youth groups and businesses in the Newington, Castleton, Parkside, Tigers Bay and Cavehill areas have been consulted.

Only a handful of residents recently received a letter mentioning the proposal, no other correspondence has happened before this. Residents have had no consultations up to this point. The cycle lane works on the Limestone Road have already began. 

We want the works stopped until every local has been consulted.

A cycle lane will cause complete parking disruption and traffic chaos for residents on the main roads and also the surrounding streets. These lanes would also have an impact on the youth groups, shops and businesses on the Limestone, Antrim and Cavehill roads who offer a great service to the community and are struggling enough to keep their doors open.

We are not against Cycle Lanes, but parking will be an issue, especially around Holy Family Church and the Waterworks Park. Parking is already bad at the moment and this will make it worse.

Safety is also a major concern, there will be more car traffic because cars won’t be able to park on the main roads:

*All of these areas have a number of elderly and disabled residents who need their parking spot for themselves and/or their carers.

*The cycle lane will make it more difficult for elderly and disabled people getting on and off the bus. They will have to step down and walk across the lane to get to the bus and then step up again. This is not safe and bus user friendly.

*We have children of all ages who play on the surrounding streets, who will no longer be able to safely.

*At the bottom end of the Limestone Road, an island has been removed, as part of these works, now children can not cross the road safely from Curry Primary School right down to the bottom of the road.

*There are several businesses at the bottom end  that have heavy large vehicle traffic coming in and out. The middle boxes on the road have been removed so it is not safe for the large vehicles to turn.

* It will be dangerous for vehicles coming on to and into the main roads because the road is now to narrow, especially for buses and other large vehicles.

These cycle lane plans do not connect to any other cycle network, because of this cycling is not going to be any safer.

We are coming together to show we are not in favour of theses current cycle lane plans and deserve the chance to be part of the consultations.

Support us by signing this petition.