Belfast councillors have backed a proposal asking the Department for Infrastructure to include Donegall Place and Castle Place in a wider city-centre pedestrianisation programme.
The City Growth and Regeneration Committee agreed on Wednesday to write to Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins about the two streets and any suitable adjoining areas. The decision must be ratified at the next full meeting of Belfast City Council before the formal request is made.
Members also agreed to invite departmental officials to brief the committee on the emerging plans. The move follows the temporary traffic arrangements used during Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, when more than 1.6 million visits were recorded in central Belfast over eight days.
The latest proposal returns to an issue first raised by councillors in 2019 after the Primark fire changed movement through Castle Place and surrounding streets. This time, the council is seeking to connect any permanent scheme with the Department's broader transport planning for the city.
Ms Kimmins announced earlier in August that a forthcoming consultation would include options for expanding pedestrianisation in Belfast city centre. The Department has not yet published the detailed streets, operating arrangements or timetable that would form part of a final scheme.
The consultation will sit within the Eastern Transport Plan 2035, which covers Belfast and four neighbouring council areas and is intended to guide transport policy and investment. It replaces the Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan, whose planning period ended in 2015.
Any permanent change will have to address public transport, deliveries, disabled access, taxis, cycling and emergency-service routes as well as the space available to pedestrians. Councillors stressed during the committee discussion that a more walkable centre must remain accessible.
No street closure is authorised by the committee vote. The immediate steps are full-council ratification, engagement with the Department and publication of the transport-plan consultation.