North Down
 

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Policies

Security
One of our main concerns is that North Down should achieve its full development potential. That means more investment in urban centres like Bangor and Holywood, better amenities and business growth. But to achieve all these things and improve quality of life for everyone living in the area, we need a safe and secure place to live and work.

 We believe that being safe in our homes and on our streets is the bare minimum any of us should be able to expect. The SDLP is fully behind the Police Service of Northern Ireland. We want to see a police force that represents and is respected by our whole community. This will develop over time as balanced recruitment continues.

We want to see an increased police presence and a serious effort to tackle the organised crime that is starting to take hold in Northern Ireland. North Down is no stranger to the growing drugs culture or to imported paramilitarism. We want to give a clear message that this is not acceptable and will not be tolerated by people who want to live and work in an area where it is safe to walk the streets and go about your business.

Devolution
It is our firm belief that the people of Northern Ireland must make their own decisions. Who is better placed to know what our needs are than we ourselves? That is why we are a strong supporter of devolution for Northern Ireland - bringing the decisions closer to the people who cast the votes.

We have spent many years under a direct rule system where the Ministers who took the crucial decisions on our schools, our hospitals, our roads and our environment got on a plane at the end of every week and went home to their own constituencies to look after the people who voted for them. If we didn't like them there was nothing we could do about it - we didn't vote for them. Now that devolution is returned we will work to build the new Northern Ireland based on the principles of partnership, respect and prosperity.

Local Issues
North Down needs its fair share of resources whether in health, housing, policing, education, transport, in road or rail, environment or facilities for our young people.

Health
North Down has been neglected for so long that expectations have been lowered. North Down deserves a Health service responsive to needs without waiting lists with clean modern facilities.

Housing
North Down needs high quality housing for all its people, whether to buy or rent. Young people are often forced to move away from their home area by rising house prices. Too much money has been made by property developers without enough thought being given to the needs of our local population.

Transport
Our community sends some 14,000 commuters every day to Belfast. We need investment in roads beyond tarmac and gravel: a computerised traffic management scheme similar to systems operated all over the world; an aggressively marketed and sensibly priced public transport service which recognises the economic and environmental benefits of using public transport; and a co-ordinated approach between rail and bus which maximises the usefulness of both to commuters and encourages people back to shop in our town centres and local businesses.

Environment
We need sensible policies which reflect the realities of life for local people. North Down has some of Northern Ireland's most scenic hills and parks. If we aren't careful, these resources will be lost forever. As tourism becomes ever more important to the local economy, let's make sure North Down is well placed to take advantage of this change. The quality of the seas that surround our coasts, the air we breathe and the water we drink must be the highest possible to protect not only the natural environment, but the health of the local population.

Facilities for young people
As our population has multiplied, provision for young people has lagged behind. There is a very real danger in North Down of slipping into a vicious circle where young people with no appropriate outlets increasingly turn to drugs, vandalism and criminality. This will in turn impact on many other aspects of life.

Let's take action now. This is too important to be left until it is too late.

Partnership
We want to work in partnership not only with other political parties, but with all sections of the community in North Down to deliver a better future. Our political representation can be more than just the sum of its parts, but we need to work together. And not just pay lip service to the idea, but actually co-operate to see what we can do to make sure that North Down gets the attention and the investment it deserves. We may not agree on everything, but we can do more together than on our own.

Our Political Future
Our position is that there shall be no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland unless the majority of people wish it so.

This is what the majority of people in Northern Ireland voted for in the Good Friday Agreement.

Education
In line with SDLP policy, we want to see that any change in education will be guided by the following principles: 

• Excellence for all in the standard of education

• Equality of opportunity

• Equal value for different educational pathways

• Parental and student choice relating to decisions that affect them

• Flexibility of choice

• Social inclusion

• Equity of funding for all schools.

Consequently we welcome the recommendation in the Burns Report to abolish academic selection at 11. We believe that children should proceed to an all - ability post-primary school until the age of 14 when maturation and development is more evident, and the children are more aware of the range of pathways appropriate to them. This would overcome the feeling of failure at age 11 and maintain options and choices as long as possible.

Since it is in the interests of society as a whole that school populations should contain a balanced social mix, then the proposal for Collegiates to work closely together would be instrumental in achieving this aim. We welcome, in principle, the proposal to set common entrance criteria for all schools rather than allowing local variation, on the basis that this would provide a more equitable basis on which to proceed.