Stormont departments have been accused of “lacking leadership and ambition” when it comes to supporting public transport after revised figures show there are more than 2,500 civil service staff car parking spaces in Belfast city centre.
The fresh figures emerged in belated responses from the first and deputy first ministers, along with Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, to an assembly question submitted last month by DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen.
The Executive Office has declined to explain why the ministers withheld the information, which under assembly rules should have been provided weeks ago.
A spokesperson for Mr Lyon’s department said “the preparation of responses may on occasion take longer to ensure that MLAs are in receipt of all relevant information”.
Ms McIlveen had last month asked each minister how many car parking spaces their department had responsibility for in Belfast city centre.
As reported in The Irish News on Thursday, the Department for the Economy has the greatest number, with some some 772, including more than 600 for staff at the Belfast Met campuses at Millfield and Titanic Quarter.
According to First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Litlle-Pengelly, the Executive Office and its associated agencies have 89 city centre car parking spaces.
However, they say there are plans to reduce this number “in light of sustainable travel policies and challenging budget pressures”.
Mr Lyons said his department and its arms length bodies have a total of 145 parking spaces, though he added that there are “plans to remove a total of 74 of these spaces within the next three months”.
Belfast Green Party councillor Brian Smyth described the figures as “embarrassing”.
He said Stormont departments needed to “sett a better example” in terms of supporting sustainable transport policies.
“There’s a culture of car dependency in Belfast, despite a significant proportion of the city’s population having no access to a car, and that is reinforced by the provision of car parking for civil service staff,” he said.
“We need to look at more innovative ways of encouraging people to use public transport but Stormont is lacking leadership and ambition in this regard.”
