AN area frequented by drug users to inject heroin has undergone a substantial cleanup.
Belfast City Council and Intertoll cleared the area adjacent the Westlink and the 3G pitch at Grosvenor Community Centre last Monday.
The move came after police found evidence of drug use – including used needles – in the area.
Hedges have been cut back and trees removed to improve visibility and to prevent the area being used as a covert injection site.
The PSNI discover several used needles in the Grosvenor area
Local Sinn Féin Councillor Tina Black said: "We wanted to thank the Belfast City Council cleansing team and their sharps team for their vigilance, and to thank Intertoll for the work the did.
"It should really help with visibility there which should deter negative and anti-social activity. It will also ensure the safety of people choosing to use the walking path."
She continued: "We really recognise that some people are in the grips of addiction and they're vulnerable. That needs to be measured alongside the fact that there should be more support services for those people, and some locations where they can get that support safely and it's monitored externally also.
"We also need to recognise that there's a big residential community living beside the city centre, and those residents, children, families, and older people, shouldn't have to be fearful of treading on needles when they're going about their daily business. That's why we need to make sure that these hotspots are no longer a problem."
Ms Black said drug issues, including the casual disposal of used needles, are affecting inner city communities across the city.
"We had a similar incident on the Falls Road and in Barrack Street," she said.
"Residents have been reporting needle finds in various hotspots, and some of them can be unpredictable. But what makes them likely hotspots is that they're overgrown, they're not well lit, there are no safety measures nearby, there's no signage, and they're unattractive spots ordinarily."
She added: "We need to look at strategies so we have less of these unusable spaces that are overgrown, because they are spaces that could be totally brought back to life with very simple measures."
