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Lagan Valley MLA and UUP Older Persons Issues spokesperson Billy Bell has expressed his concern that residential homes in Lisburn and South Down have come under threat of closure after a decision by the Down Lisburn Health Trust to reduce the number of beds in the area.

Public consultation ends this month and a final decision on the fate of the homes is due in January next year.

Mr Bell said:

“Obviously we do not want the homes to close and the wave of opposition in Lisburn shows the strength of opinion on the subject. This simply cannot be ignored by Down Lisburn Trust.

“We share the sentiments of Age Concern Northern Ireland when they ask the Trust to be sensitive to the fears and concerns of all affected parties. These centres play a very valuable role within our community and if they go, many may find themselves without a vital support network.

“The Trust needs to address these concerns sooner rather than later as many families feel left in the dark. At the end of the day the Trust’s priority should be the welfare of the elderly, not making sure the balance book adds up”.

Giving his initial response to today’s CBRJ Protocols, Ulster Unionist Policing Spokesperson Fred Cobain has welcomed the fact that David Hanson has readily admitted previous guidelines “did not get it right”, but warned that the Minister may find reason to repeat that statement after the 12-weeks consultation is concluded.

In a statement, the North Belfast MLA said: “David Hanson has conceded that government got it wrong with their previous guidelines, and stated that he has now published a robust new protocol. He was spot on with the former, but way off with the latter.

“Nonetheless, the Minister’s open and unqualified assessment of critical failings is welcome. Indeed, the Minister seems to have listened to a few of the broad criticisms.

“When the draft restorative justice guidelines were published in December I said that the proposals contained numerous grey areas and loopholes; that it was a loose system which practically invited manipulation. Indeed, Mr Hanson said that the first draft guidelines were not robust enough to command public confidence.

“One of the most fundamental failings was that offences could be reported through a third party – that police could be bypassed. That is completely unacceptable. I am pleased to see that, when reporting offences, there must now be a direct engagement with police.”

He added: “The UUP position has always been that the restorative justice concept is valuable but it must be done right. Policing must be central to the entire process. Today, the Minister has said that “the centrality of the police to the way in which schemes operate is non-negotiable”. That is to be welcomed.

“But at first sight there are elements which still have not been got right. The Protocol does not encompass schemes’ “other activities”. What is meant by the full gamut of ‘other activities’? What guidelines operate in relation to non-criminal cases? Leaving this open to “review in light of operational experience” is anything but robust.

“To deal with cases, “an advisory panel may be formed” involving the PSNI. Will it be formed or not?

“Also, the CBRJ suitability panel will be “comprised of representatives of relevant statutory bodies and will receive information from the police”. This implies that police are not part of this panel.

“Arrangements for determining the suitability of persons working on schemes was one of the major concerns that came out of the previous consultation. Surely ensuring police representation on this panel would resolve that?

“The Ulster Unionist Party will consider more closely the implications of this protocol before making its complete response to the consultation.”

North Down MLA and UUP Regional Development spokesperson Leslie Cree has welcomed a £400 million package of major road upgrades both east and west of the Bann.

The package was announced today by Regional Development minister David Cairns, who is set to launch a two-month consultation for road users to say where the money should be spent.

Mr Cree said:

“Firstly, anything which improves our infrastructure and enhances our economic links has to be welcomed. Naturally, I would urge all interested parties to make their feelings known during the consultation period. It’s also interesting to see that Ulster Unionist concerns regarding the dualling of the West have been acknowledged.

“However, this is a considerably large and complicated budget which the department has to work with and considering recent reports of Government under spend, I truly hope that this money goes where it’s supposed to”.

Mr Cree continued:

“Whilst we see important developments for Lisburn, Londonderry and Ballymoney, we again see North Down left out of the loop. This will come as blow to residents and commuters within North Down whose needs were also ignored in the recent Strategic Network Plan. Plans discussed for developments between Bangor and Belfast have all but disappeared from the Government’s radar and I would hope that they reconsider plans for North Down in the future”.

Fermanagh & South Tyrone Ulster Unionist Assembly Member, Tom Elliott MLA has gave a cautious welcome to the announcement by Regional Development Minister, David Cairns on Monday 31 July 2006 of a new package of £400 million for major road upgrades.

This is an issue that the Ulster Unionist MLA has campaigned for many years. It is crucial during this consultation period that the Department recognise the need to improve our roads in the West of the Province and allocate the necessary funds to bring our road infrastructure into the 21 century.

Tom said: “This package is long overdue and will be on top of the programme which will see the completion of the A4 from Dungannon to Ballygawley over the next four years but there are many other routes that need to be upgraded.

“It was disappointing that the original allocation of funding had just 0.2% of spend going to Fermanagh, with this being for the Cherrymount Link scheme, which is still not in a position that is close to commencement. At least this announcement has identified 6.75% for the County and a number of other schemes from which many of Fermanagh’s motorists will benefit, such as the Fivemiletown bypass.

“At long last following decades of lobbing by representatives from Fermanagh we now see a Southern bypass for Enniskillen being mentioned on a forward planning scheme. However I would urge caution as this is only at consultation stage and I would suggest that the finance that has been identified for it will be required to adjusted up before the project is completed.

“I am also pleased of the recognition of another vital route, the A32 between Enniskillen and Omagh, which is crucial with the new hospital being built in Enniskillen.

“Many of our minor roads are in urgent need of repair and the short term measures of patching at the moment are false economies and will lead to higher reinstatements costs in the future, as well as reducing road casualties.

“It is vital that during the consultation period that Fermanagh & South Tyrone get the maximum funds available to compensate for the years of neglect and cope with the ever increasing traffic volumes that we have experiences over many years.”

“The house price “hot spots” (say, South Belfast, Lisburn and North Down) face big hikes in charges under the new rates. This is because the new bills will be roughly 0.6 per cent of the assessed sales prices (in January 2005). Until now this has been a theoretical problem but during this week (Tuesday) householders in South Belfast will be receiving their official house price assessments through the post.

Every South Belfast Ward bar Shaftesbury faces an increase in the average bill (in the case of Malone it almost doubles, in the case of Stranmillis it goes up by two-thirds). In every Ward except one well over half of families will face increases.

The new system is packed high with anomalies. Two families, in otherwise very similar circumstances (same income and similar house size) will face very different rates bills according to whether they live in a low or high house price area (compare South Belfast with, say, Strabane).

Northern Ireland’s total rates bill will tend to grow strongly over time not because we are necessarily using more local services but as our house prices (continue to) catch up on the historically higher levels in England.

We will face more and more hard cases posed by asset rich but cash poor individuals, e.g. a pensioner living by themselves in, say, Stranmillis on a low fixed income will now face a bill of several £ 1000s. How will they pay, will they be forced to sell a home they have lived in for decades?

The underlying problem is the philosophy of the new rates. These are no longer, in any sense, a charge for use of local services (bins, street cleansing, swimming pools). They are in no way tied to a real ability to pay. What the new rates are, and they have been introduced and designed during a period when local democratic control has been missing, is  regional wealth tax in disguise”.

Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has said today that a bigger slice of future EU funding in Northern Ireland must be spent on research and development to increase innovation and help drive forward a sustainable, knowledge driven economy in Northern Ireland.

Speaking today Mr Nicholson said,

“Increasing spending on research and development is important for improving innovation and increasing productivity, not just in pushing forward the technological frontier but in building and driving forward a sustainable, knowledge driven economy with better jobs, a well skilled work force and greater social cohesion.

“Northern Ireland’s expenditure on research and development is worse than the UK average, which in turn only just reaches the EU – 25 average of 1.9% of GDP spent on R & D.

“This stands in stark contrast to other EU countries such as Sweden and Finland who spend 3.7% and 3.5% respectively on research and development and also to the Republic of Ireland which just announced plans to spend at least €3.8 billion on research over the next seven years.

“Northern Ireland needs to emulate this level of expenditure on R & D if it wishes to sustain economic growth and future EU funding can contribute to this.”

East Londonderry UUP Assembly member Norman Hillis has strongly recommended that the Roads Service push ahead with plans to construct a bypass around Ballykelly.

Reacting to the Minister’s announcement of consultation on a proposed £400m Province-wide roads upgrade, Mr. Hillis said the construction of a bypass around the village was long overdue.

“There have been numerous improvements along the north west corridor linking Londonderry, Limavady and Coleraine over recent years and the bypass around Limavady has been a key element in easing traffic flow in the town.

“However, the bottleneck on the approaches to Ballykelly remain a significant difficulty for motorists and a frustration.

“Traffic is regularly backed up considerable distances into and out of the village during peak times and this in turn creates delayed journey times for motorists.

“I would urge the Minister to ensure that the bypass is high on the agenda as it would complete the network on what is one of the busiest routes in the north west.”

North Antrim MLA UUP Rev Dr Robert Coulter has strongly condemned an arson attack on a Ballymena school.

A mobile classroom at St Louis Primary School was damaged yesterday afternoon. In a separate incident, an arson attack on a school classroom on the outskirts of north Belfast early on Sunday caused thousands of pounds of damage.

In a statement the UUP MLA said:

“I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible way. This sort of reckless and senseless behaviour has no place in our society. An attack on a school is an attack on the whole community.

“It’s at this time of year that we see an increase in these sort of attacks and I hope that bored teenagers seek other forms of entertain rather than endangering lives and property. These mindless yobs need to found and met with the full force of the law. I would urge anyone with any information to contact the police immediately”.

The Fews Branch (Newry and Mourne) of the Ulster Unionist Party today called on the local unionist electorate to mobilise and vote for William Frazer in the forthcoming by-election on Wednesday 2 August.

Mr Frazer is standing as an independent Unionist candidate for a seat on Newry and Mourne District Council in the by-election caused by the resignation of a Sinn Fein Member for highly cynical and tactical political reasons.

In a statement the Fews Branch said,

“Mr Frazer is well known for his campaigning on victims issues and we call on the entire Unionist electorate in the Fews area to cast their vote for William Frazer and defeat Sinn Fein on Wednesday. With a high turnout of the unionist electorate there is no reason why William cannot be elected to Newry and Mourne District Council.”

Sam Gardiner MLA, Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for Upper Bann, has  condemned the arson attack on Derryadd Orange Hall.

“This is the latest in a series of attacks on Orange Halls. Indeed, Derryadd Orange Hall was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack a few years ago. It is a sad reflection of the bigotry which exists in parts of our community. To attack an Orange Hall is a statement against the Unionist-minded population. It is a way of saying there is no room for your culture. That sort of attitude needs to be banished from our society.”

“I was glad to hear that arrests had been made at the scene and I hope that will send a message out to the kind of irresponsible hooligan element who carry out such activities. There is a need to get the young hooligan element in our society under some sort of control. It appears now that this age group is at the forefront of most sectarian trouble in the Province.”

“I want to commend the PSNI for their swift action in Derryadd and to say that people in all parts of the community should give the police their fullest support. They are working to create a better society and brighter future for all of us and they deserve the co-operation of everyone from whatever cultural tradition they come.”