BELFAST City Council has applied for new EU funding to regenerate Alexandra Park and the Waterworks in North Belfast with hopes that the regeneration could see Alexandra Park's peace wall come down.

The council made the application for the programme called 'Reconnected Belfast' in the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee and will apply to the EU PeacePlus body for the funds.

PeacePlus is a new cross border funding programme to improve prosperity between communities in the North and those who live along the border.

Speaking at the monthly City Hall meeting, North Belfast Alliance Councillor Sam Nelson said: “This represents a really positive opportunity for North Belfast, in two parks which at times feel unloved. It's great to see an attempt to bring a bit of investment and regeneration into those parks.

“In terms of Alexandra Park, it is the only park in Europe that has an interface barrier down the middle of it. I think this really does represent an opportunity for us to try and start the process of asking how we bring the community together and to start the process of trying to remove what is a scar on our city.

“Hopefully this can be the start of something, with us working as a key stakeholder, working with others such as the Department of Justice, other departments and statutory agencies, on how to start bringing down that interface barrier.”

North Belfast Sinn Féin Councillor Conor Maskey agreed.

“It's a strong application and I echo what Sam has said. There is a change in regards to the focus on the Waterworks and Alexandra and the wall in Alexandra.

“It needs to be dealt with and dealt with through the support of communities around there. They are the only people who will make that happen. Some of the ideas in the application are strong, in terms of lessening the impact of that wall.”

North Belfast DUP Councillor Dean McCullough added that he was from the area beside the park and any move to take the wall down would need to get the consent of local communities living there.