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Belfast City Council's five-month silence on Peter Robinson name for leisure centre

Former DUP leader Peter Robinson, and the old Robinson Centre which is being redeveloped by Belfast City Council
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson, and the old Robinson Centre which is being redeveloped by Belfast City Council Former DUP leader Peter Robinson, and the old Robinson Centre which is being redeveloped by Belfast City Council

BELFAST City Council has remained silent for the past five months on keeping a leisure centre's name in honour of ex-DUP leader Peter Robinson.

The council has no plans to change the name of the Robinson Centre – despite concerns that this breaches council policy.

The old centre – which is being redeveloped into a new multi-million-pound leisure facility – was named after Mr Robinson in the 1980s by Castlereagh Borough Council when he was a councillor and MP aged in his mid-thirties.

It was transferred to Belfast City Council (BCC) in 2015 after the previous 26 local authorities were merged into 11 new 'supercouncils'.

BCC adopted a policy in 2008 which states that leisure facilities can only be named after people if they have been deceased for at least five years, or they have made a significant financial contribution to the facility.

The policy also says names that are "party-political in intention or use" will not be considered.

In a Freedom of Information response to SDLP activist Séamas de Faoite, the council said there are no plans to change the Robinson Centre's name.

Mr de Faoite wrote in early July to Nigel Grimshaw, BCC's director of city and neighbourhood services, querying whether this stance complies with the council's naming policy.

However, he has still not received any response from Mr Grimshaw or the council to the questions in his letter almost five months later.

Mr de Faoite has called for the Robinson Centre to be re-named, saying that there is "no room for political ego-trips in 2018".

The former East Belfast assembly candidate said: "It is time for Belfast City Council to come clean – what is the plan for the new aquatic centre on Montgomery Road?

"Will they stick to their existing policy or will they set a new policy that makes an exception for Peter Robinson?

"I want answers and so do the ratepayers."

The Robinson Centre was closed in February 2015 due to health and safety concerns over asbestos. BCC later approved its demolition and the construction on the same site of a new leisure facility, which is due to open in summer 2019.

Asked why the council has still not responded to Mr de Faoite's queries, a BCC spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the correspondence mentioned and it is being dealt with."