News

Probe into publicly funded paramilitary monument

PLANNERS have launched an investigation into a publicly funded memorial being used to glorify loyalist paramilitaries.

The Department of the Environment (DoE) last night confirmed that no planning application had been received for the £22,000 memorial.

It was built in the Village area of south Belfast by the Housing Executive (NIHE) as a First World War remembrance garden.

However, it emerged yesterday that loyalists have added a memorial stone honouring UVF members.

NIHE staff were also reportedly denied access to the garden after locks they placed on the gates were changed.

The garden was built to replace a previous UVF memorial that had been removed during housing redevelopment in the Village.

It was paid for from NIHE's budget and European Union peace funding.

NIHE said it was trying to "reach agreement" with the local community to have the paramilitary display removed.

"We are disappointed that since its construction, other images have been added to the garden. We did not agree to any additional images," a spokesman said.

However, a DOE spokeswoman said the construction of the entire memorial garden would be investigated.

"The department has not received a planning application for a memorial garden on lands at Frenchpark Street," she said.

"The circumstances at Frenchpark Street are being investigated."

A spokesman from South Belfast ACT (Action for Community Transformation) defended the UVF monument, which was installed in November.

He said it marked the "contribution made by the men of the original Ulster Volunteer Force who fought alongside the British army in World War One".

NIHE said the Village memorial and another off the Ormeau Road are the only two of this type it has paid for.

Last month The Irish News revealed that the Housing Executive would face no action over the memorial off the Ormeau Road that planners said was built "in breach of planning control".

NIHE had insisted it complied with regulations.