Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie yesterday joined the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Bernie Kelly in celebrating the reopening of a historic street in central Belfast.

The £1.5 million project was initiated by the former Laganside Corporation and work commenced in December last year. The completed scheme has transformed Lower Chichester Street by the removal of the removal of the last remaining security barriers and sangers in the city centre and creating an attractive link between the regenerated waterfront, Victoria Square and the City Centre.

The radical makeover has opened up the whole area to pedestrians and cyclists and will shortly facilitate a designated bus route servicing wider Belfast cutting out the current detour via Queen’s Square and Oxford Street during peak traffic times. Lawns and trees have been planted to add colour to the physical works.

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The completed works provide a more fitting setting for the Royal Courts of Justice, Laganside Courts and give people the opportunity to fully appreciate the award winning Bar Library.

Speaking at the launch, Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie, whose remit includes City Centre regeneration, said: "We don’t have to cast our minds back very far to remember Lower Chichester Street as a rather forbidding stretch of street due to the very necessary security infrastructure that existed around the Law Courts. It is, therefore, very gratifying for me to mark the completion of the site works on two levels.

"On one level, Lower Chichester Street affirms Belfast's unrelenting move towards normality and on another level serves as an inspiring forerunner to my Department’s 'Belfast: Street's Ahead' initiative, the aim of which is to provide world class spaces at the heart of the City.

"As a result of the completed scheme, Lower Chichester Street has become a shared space offering a superb view of the iconic Waterfront Hall and regenerated river beyond as well as a fitting stage for the award-winning Bar Library, the historic old Town Hall and the Royal Courts of Justice."

The scheme has been implemented by DRD Roads Service on behalf of the Department for Social Development.

(JM)