AN ORANGE march has been barred from a north Belfast street following "scepticism" from residents about lodge members getting on and off a bus to parade for a few minutes near a former interface.
Cavehill LOL 1956 has been prohibited by the Parades Commission from marching or assembling on Cavehill Road tomorrow on the morning of the Twelfth.
Instead, they can assemble on Westland Road at its junction with Cavehill Road and proceed along Westland Road to the Westland Way junction.
It is one of two new 'feeder' parades involving Cavehill lodge. Both received complaints when they were first held last year.
The marches take place a short distance from each other, with a bus transporting the lodge between them.
UUP Newtownabbey councillor Robert Foster branded the Parades Commission decision as "nothing short of ludicrous".
"A shared future – by any reasonable definition – means that Orange parades should be facilitated not prevented," he said.
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The Parades Commission said it received complaints about both feeder parades.
"Residents do not understand why the lodge needs two parades within a short distance of each other, nor why the Cavehill Road parade is taking place at all," a spokesman said.
"There is scepticism about what residents describe as a 'new lodge getting off and on a bus to parade for a few minutes along part of the Cavehill Road, up close to what was, until recently, an interface'."
The commission determined that the first feeder parade at Kilcoole Park could proceed along its notified route, but redirected the Cavehill Road parade to the nearby Westland Road.
"This decision reflects genuine fears that the Cavehill Road parade will potentially disrupt finely balanced community relations in the area," the spokesman added.
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