By Julie Waters
A FORMER Mayor has launched a fresh attack on the condition of Bangor city centre’s pavements, declaring he wishes the controversial public realm paving ‘had never been put down’.
Bangor Central councillor Alistair Cathcart said the footpaths have become ‘more hassle than they are worth’, despite increased council spending on power washing and repairs.
The DUP politician has shared his frustrations after being contacted by a number of concerned residents about the condition of the pale coloured paving throughout the city centre.
The paving, installed in 2013 as part of a multi-million pound environmental improvement scheme, was funded by the Department for Communities, and also included the neighbouring towns of Holywood and Newtownards.
But in recent years it has been the subject of frequent complaints over the dirtiness of the pavements.
“I wish the public realm footpath had never been put down, it is more hassle than it is worth,” said Mr Cathcart. “I have been trying to address it for years.
“A few years ago I secured more frequent cleaning and a new power washer was purchased but unfortunately it has reliability issues.”
He said the footpaths throughout the city centre ‘never look good in spells of dry weather’ but he welcomed recent power washing in Bangor’s High Street, Bridge Street and Main Street.
Mr Cathcart explained that the council had allocated £128,197 to powerwash Bangor city centre as well as the town centres of Comber, Donaghadee, Holywood and Newtownards, three times a year.
He also welcomed the £55,000 budget, increased from £30,000, for the council’s Estates Service to increase its work to clean, repaint, renew or repair paths, benches, picnic tables, signs and bins across 20 locations in the borough, during 2026/27.
This budget is set to be increased by a further £25,000, to £80,000 for 2027/28, and would also cover areas such as Bangor public realm, Cloughey boardwalk, Ballywalter promenade, Seapark at Hollywood and Portavogie promenade.
Mr Cathcart said the council was also trying to secure external funding to tackle issues with the public realm works such as resealing the pavements which would make them easier to clean.
The Bangor central councillor said he had brought forward a notice of motion calling for a review of the council’s current proactive maintenance and cleansing regimes earlier this year.
He stated that ‘basic maintenance and upkeep of our public realm, particularly in our centres and prominent areas, can and should be improved’.
The city centre councillor said he was pushing to ‘get basic maintenance right and make sure things look right’ and welcomed the recent powerwashing that had taken place.
Mr Cathcart said: “I have become chair of the council’s Environment Committee and am determined to get these basic maintenance issues carried out so that Bangor and other places in the borough look their best at all times.
“The budget for proactive maintenance for prominent areas has had a sizable increase and will increase again next financial year. I will continue to pursue these improvements.”
