To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether she will extend the consultation period for the proposed changes to bus lane operating times in North Belfast.

I wrote to business stakeholders in October 2025 to provide an update on the implementation of the measures to improve traffic management in Belfast City Centre in the run up to Christmas which included extended operational times for bus lanes on several of the key arterial routes to the south of the city. Monitoring of this scheme has identified improvements in bus journey time reliability, service punctuality and passenger numbers. I have therefore decided to extend this experimental traffic control scheme on these southern arterial routes for a further 6 months.

On 4 June 2026 I wrote to business stakeholders to advise of the extension and my proposal to introduce a similar experimental scheme to extend the hours of operation of bus lanes along routes to the north of the city including York Street, York Road, Shore Road, Antrim Road and Crumlin Road.

In order to seek public opinion on the proposed introduction of this 6 month Experimental Traffic Control Scheme, I published a Notice of Intention in the Belfast Telegraph, News Letter and Irish News on 10 June 2026. This notification invited feedback on the proposed scheme which provided businesses and members of the public with the opportunity to submit any objection or other representations to the scheme within 22 days of that date.

My Department received a number of objections and representations during the consultation period. In light of this consultation feedback, I have decided to postpone the proposed implementation of the experimental traffic control scheme to allow all objections and representations to be fully considered before a decision is taken on whether the scheme should proceed.

My Department continues to consider the impact on general traffic and the benefits resulting from the experimental extension of bus lane operational times on arterial routes into Belfast City Centre.