[h=2]Fed-up householders and a DUP Assembly Member are calling for Stormont departments to finally get a grip on the annual problems associated with Eleventh Night bonfires.[/h]
The calls have come after a sprawling bonfire in Antrim town collapsed twice in a week dangerously close to residents' oil tanks.
Despite the predictability of this controversial issue, each year sees a handful of massive bonfires built too close to houses to be safe, while others contain toxic materials such as tyres.
As the authorities dodge calls to take action,
residents are often too afraid to speak out for fear of being harassed or intimidated.
One DUP MLA said
the authorities see problems around loyalist bonfires as an unsolvable "hornets' nest" to be avoided.
Some sources say a trend towards bigger bonfires this year has been linked to anger over the restrictions on the flying of the Union flag at
Belfast City Hall.
But residents living closest to them say they fear for their safety – and question who will deal with the aftermath of towering structures packed with tyres.Fear of intimidation prevents residents of Antrim's Ballycraigy estate from speaking out against the bonfire that has already collapsed twice. Graffiti around the estate warns against removing tyres from the Housing Executive-owned site.
But, privately, residents have described the towering mass – which was said to be the size of a two-storey building before it fell – as
an eyesore and a health hazard, positioned yards from residents' homes. Today, the Housing Executive will bring skips into the loyalist estate in an attempt to provide a buffer to protect properties. "People are fed up with the size of the bonfire and all these flags that have gone up," one resident said.
Another added: "I would have concerns for people if it collapsed again. A woman in one of those houses (backing on to the bonfire site) is elderly and disabled and she has an oil tank, so she would be quite bothered about it. "
But there's not a thing you can do, unless you want your windows or door put in." Meanwhile, the South Eastern Education and Library Board is also in talks after a 35ft-high fire was built without its knowledge on its land in Dunmurry's Mosside area, in the middle of a large housing estate.
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