LOCAL residents in the New Lodge are being invited to attend a new community clinic which starts next week.
The first New Lodge Community Clinic will take place next Wednesday (June 1) from 10am-12 noon in North Queen Street Community Centre (Reccy).
The clinic will see a number of statutory agencies including the Housing Executive and Belfast City Council in attendance, alongside local bodies including New Lodge Housing Forum, New Lodge Safer Streets and Community Restorative Justice (CRJ).
Gerry O'Reilly from the New Lodge Housing Forum is encouraging local residents to attend the first clinic.
"We have seen an increase in people coming through our doors with a number of different issues," he said. "We want to expand the services in the area. We have been speaking with some statutory bodies including Housing Executive and Belfast City Council.
"Instead of people coming here and us having to seek out the statutory bodies, we thought, let's ask them to get together on a monthly basis and listen to the issues of the day.
"It may be anything from anti-social behaviour to drugs and housing issues.
"We are looking forward to the start of the clinic and want to encourage local people to come forward with any issues that they feel we can tackle.
"I want the statutory bodies in the room to be held accountable."
Following next week's first meeting, the Community Clinic is scheduled to meet on July 6, August 3 and September 7.
