What are our MPs doing to protect the Belfast Hills?

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board Website encourages potential visitors to Northern Ireland to “experience the Belfast Hills, renowned for providing a unique backdrop to a thriving urban area”.  Part of the hills fall within Lagan Valley and as one approaches Lisburn down the Pond Park Road, you experience a panoramic view of the valley in what is probably the best perspective of the entire constituency.  Yet, today the beauty and grandeur of the hills is threatened by a number of recent developments that give real cause for concern.

Within a short distance of this viewing point, there is the recently opened landfill site at the former Mullaghglass Quarry which has become the dumping ground for a large proportion of Northern Ireland’s waste.  At the time when the Planning Service was considering the application for this particular site, I supported the local residents from Castlerobin in their outright opposition to this large landfill development.  We met with the then Minister for the Environment Angela Smith and appraised her of our deep concerns about the potentially damaging impact such a landfill site could have on the environment in the Belfast Hills and on the local community.  Unfortunately, neither the Minister or Planning Service gave sufficient weight to such concerns and so the proliferation of ‘dumps’ in the Hills continues.

Since the Mullaghglass landfill site opened, local residents have complained about an infestation of flies, a marked increase in the rat population in the area, foul smells, excessive litter and pollution of the atmosphere with chemicals used in the waste disposal process.  They despair as each day large volumes of heavy trucks transporting waste make their way along narrow country roads to the landfill site with all the attendant problems they bring with them.  These are just some of the obvious issues that have arisen.  What we don’t know is the hidden cost and long-term legacy of any environmental pollution that may leach into the water table beneath the hills.  What price will the next generation pay for the expediency that this large landfill site represents?

Mullaghglass is not the only landfill site in the Belfast Hills.  A number of other key landfill sites have been developed and the cumulative effect of all of this dumping of waste surely raises concerns about the long-term environmental impact.  As a local public representative, I am calling for a moratorium on any further development of landfill sites in the Hills.  I am urging the Environment and Heritage Service to fully investigate the lasting environmental consequences of the existing landfill activities in the Belfast Hills and to heed the call by the local community who are saying loud and clear ‘enough is enough’.