Concerns Holywood Park Is In Danger Due To Landslide

North down Alliance Councillor Andrew Muir has said Holywood's Glen Lyon Park is at risk of destruction after landslides have left an embankment close by in a perilous state.

Councillor Andrew Muir said: "After being contacted by the Greenspaces Group and visiting the park in person I am very concerned that recent and on-going earth movements have already caused one landslide, with another likely if action isn't taken soon.

"Initial contact with Council officers indicates that responsibility for rectifying problem rests with a private land owner. Whilst liaison is on-going to secure the unstable embankment, I am concerned that until a solution is in place the scenic park could be destroyed with contents of nearby homes and the busy Church Road tumbling down into the tranquil Twisel Burn River."

A&E Waiting Times 'Shocking' - Beggs

The Ulster Unionist Party's Health spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA has described the latest statistics to be released, for April, regarding Accident & Emergency waiting time statistics as "truly shocking".

Mr Beggs said: "According to Provisional Emergency Care Waiting Time Information for April 2013, the percentage of patients being seen within four hours at A&E departments were 62.8% at Antrim Area, 61.6% at Craigavon Area, 61.3% at the Ulster Hospital and 59.5% at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. These are truly shocking statistics.

"Only last week the BBC reported how the NHS in England and Wales was deemed to be in crisis due to the number of hospitals whose A&E departments were failing to meet the 95% target for seeing patients within four hours.

"To put things in perspective, the statistics for last month show that in Northern Ireland only the South West Hospital managed to see more than 70 per cent of people in A&E within four hours.

"Clearly there are major problems with our Accident & Emergency departments which are putting nurses and doctors under intolerable strain as they seek to provide emergency treatment to patients."

More Support For Hill Farmers

Sinn Féin MLA and member of the agriculture committee Ian Milne has called for more support for hill farmers.

In making his maiden speech in the Assembly Mr. Milne said: "Hill farmers make up a large percentage of the total population and it is important that they are supported.

"I recognise and welcome the Minister’s commitment to hill farmers especially in her swift reaction to the recent crisis. However the problems facing hill farmers are more complicated than the recent crisis with snow and fodder.

"Research carried out by Oxfam last year found that hill farmers are forced to take drastic action, such as cutting back on their own grocery bill and foregoing the basics in life just to keep their farms viable. Indeed, some of the accounts that we heard from the charity Rural Support, when it addressed the Committee recently, brought home to us the sheer level of emotion and trauma that is experienced by our farmers as they struggle to make ends meet.

"I am calling on the Department to look at ways in which hill farmers can be supported either through grants to improve outbuildings or by ensuring that the new proposed Area of Natural Constraints replacing the Less Favoured Areas payments are more accessible to hill farmers."

(CD)