A portion of a popular Belfast road is crying out for investment and imagination in order to give locals a sense of pride in their area while attracting visitors.
He told Belfast Live: "In order to have a promenading culture in getting people out to enjoy the facilities, there needs to be businesses everywhere. At the minute, if you walk down the road, you have derelict buildings, so it's not as attractive to people which is an issue. "We need to raise revenue to keep our city and country going, there's no question of that, but there needs to be more joined-up thinking on how the small business community is able to exist. It's not just this part of the Antrim Road that's suffering, if you go to any part of the city or in many small towns, the high street is gone.
As well as this, he added that proposed funding for local parks the Waterworks and Alexandra Park can be a real "game changer" in bringing more investment into the area. "If you get that proper investment in those two parks, it can transform the area. Covid showed how the Waterworks is loved and with funding it could be not just a locally loved entity, but loved across the board and get tourists flocking to it - if we do the right things in that space."
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