Residents living in a block of flats in Portadown have been advised to leave their homes due to the risk posed by a nearby bonfire.
In a letter addressed to residents of in the Corcrain Drive/Redmanville area, the South Ulster Housing Association (SUHA), are offering those displaced, temporarily accomodation in the Armagh City Youth Hostel.
The letter was sent to residents on July 5, and was posted on social media by UUP MLA Doug Beattie.
The letter addresses a number of concerns, mainly that the bonfire was being built “without council permission, authority or consent”.
The NIFRS also advised the Housing Association that the “distance of a bonfire to the nearest property should be five time the height of the bonfire”.
Adding: “Because the distance of the block of flats that you reside in to the bonfire falls well short of the minimum distance considered safe (based on the anticipated final height of the bonfire) the Council has put us on notice that the bonfire poses a serious health and safety risk to residents and poses a risk of damage to your property.
“Assuming the expected size of the bonfire the Council advise evacuating residents from the affected block of flats.
I know some will read this in a certain way but this is not acceptable.
“Assuming the expected size of the bonfire the council advice evacuating residents from the affected blocks of flats”
When the elderly or vulnerable are affected it is beyond a display of identity & culture pic.twitter.com/PRTihokDnP
— Doug Beattie (@BeattieDoug) July 6, 2019
UUP MLA Doug Beattie said that the situation was “not acceptable”.
“When the elderly or vulnerable are affected it is beyond a display of identity and culture,” he wrote on Twitter.
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