BELFAST City councillors have voted this afternoon to remove the controversial Eleventh Night bonfire at the Westlink.
The bonfire has been built near a major electricity substation between the Donegall Road and the Westlink. It is also situated near asbestos which has been dumped on the bonfire site.
SDLP, Sinn Féin, Alliance and the Green Party voted in favour of its removal and to write to Alliance Minister at the Department for the Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Andrew Muir to act immediately to have the asbestos removed from the site.
The DUP voted against it.
Alliance councillor Michael Long said: "In light of the advice received this week from NIE, we believe that the bonfire material needs to be removed to stop any power issues at our local hospitals."
Alliance Belfast City Councillor Jenna Maghie added: “Everyone has a right to celebrate their cultural identity, and Alliance supports the display of culture when it’s done in a way which is legal, respectful and, most important of all, safe.
“To have a bonfire so close to an electric substation, particularly that which is supplying power to nearby hospitals, is dangerous and the potential risk of damage to both human life and public property is cause for great concern. In light of new information received this week from NIE relating to the level of risk posed to the power supply, it’s a chance we can’t afford to take and council must now intervene.
“We’re glad to see our proposal pass with the support of the majority of the committee, and I’d urge those opposed to consider the responsibility they have to vulnerable local residents in the area and those receiving hospital treatment.”
As the city waits to see what happens next, bonfire enthusiast Jamie Bryson warned that the City Hall vote risks raising the temperature.
"Nationalist Belfast City Council have in private just taken a decision to move in to target the Village bonfire," he wrote in a rapid series of furious tweets immediately after the Council vote. "Nationalists ratcheting up enormous tension. There will be huge anger not just in that community, but across loyalist areas."
