Revised Derry bi-lingual street naming policy welcomed

The passing of a revised bi-lingual street naming policy by Derry and Strabane District Council's Governance & Strategic Planning committee, has been welcomed.

The new policy will reduce the threshold required by local residents to secure bi-lingual signage for their street.

Sinn Féin councillor and Irish language activist Grace Uí Niallais said: “In 2021 Sinn Féin brought a motion to council proposing that any street in the council area could secure bi-lingual signage in Irish, Ulster-Scots or other minority languages if 15% or more of the street's residents on the electoral register supported the proposal.

“This was in line with recommendations from the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages.

"The revised policy which was endorsed at committee this week will reverse the previous threshold that required two-thirds of residents to support bi-lingual signage and in turn make it much easier for the cultural diversity of the council area to reflected in street names across the city and district.”