Views sought on draft equality impact assessment of Derry's bilingual street sign policy

Derry City and Strabane District Council is seeking the views of the public in relation to a draft equality impact assessment report on the Council’s Dual Language Street Naming policy.

In January 2021, Council passed a motion to lower the threshold for the installation of dual language signage from 66.7% to 15%. Following this decision, a new Dual Language Street Naming Policy was developed, and, in line with the commitments in our Equality Scheme an equality screening was undertaken.

This screening report identified that, with the mitigations, it does not appear that there will be specific negative impacts on equality of opportunity, and the policy may indeed help to further the aims of the Good Relations duty by promoting a better understanding of the linguistic diversity which exists within the Council area.

However, it was also concluded that it would be useful to carry out a detailed equality impact assessment, which would include a public consultation, to inform the final policy and identify whether any further mitigations are required.

Encouraging the public to take part in the consultation, Derry City and Strabane District Council Chief Executive, John Kelpie, said: “Public feedback on the draft equality impact assessment report is important to ensure that the views of people across the city and district are taken into account.”

Feedback can be submitted by via the survey link: https://www.derrystrabane.com/about-council/consultations. The consultation is open until Monday 29 July 2024.Alternatively you can email equality@derrystrabane.com  with your comments or contact the Council by telephone on 028 71 253 253 Ext 6705 or Ext 6706.