A WEST Belfast councillor has hit out after thieves stole around £5,000 worth of timber that was to be used to insulate local homes.
The perpetrators broke into a secure storage yard at the former St Thomas' school site on the Whiterock Road when the site was closed during the July break.
They stole insulation and thousands of pounds worth of timber planks that were set aside for a Housing Executive cladding scheme in Ballymurphy. The EU-funded scheme will see 177 houses insulated at a cost of over £5million.
Sinn Féin Councillor Steven Corr said the thieves, who are believed to be local, have "stolen from their neighbours".
This scheme is something we've been campaigning for for over a decade and it will have major benefits for local people – the finished jobs are already amazing," he said.
"Because it's European funding it doesn't come out of the central Housing Executive pot, so this is one-off money. Basically what has happened here is that somebody has thieved from the people of Ballymurphy."
Cllr Corr said those who carried out the theft are thought to have had local knowledge of the otherwise secure site.
"They had to have known where they were going," he said. "Wood is expensive and it has quadrupled in price over the past year or so, but it still doesn't give anybody a right to steal from their neighbours.
"The planks were hidden out of sight and the yard is secured on all sides, there's fencing all around it, so somebody knew what they were doing.
"It's a well secured site, there's new security going on it, but it wasn't a site that needed security," he stated.
"There was more than one person that did this, it has been a squad that has done it because they had to carry the wood through the site.
He added: "They've been here for quite a while so it wasn't a five minute smash and grab."
Cllr Corr appealed for anyone with information about the theft to come forward.
"Somebody will know who did this," he said.
"For anybody who did this, if the planks get put back again all well and good. If it doesn't then people need to come forward and tell us what they know about it because a sizeable amount of wood has been stolen on their neighbours in Ballymurphy."
