The Belfast Hills Partnership has hit out at “crippling” government cuts by the Department of the Environment that have slashed their budget by more than half. Partnership Manager Dr Jim Bradley warned that the Partnership faced closure, job losses and the collapse of vital services. 

“Our funds have been axed by a massive 54 per cent. We are in line for this year's raft of three-yearly core funding and are being expected to carry a particularly savage cut," he said.

The Belfast Hills Partnership seeks to improve and protect the Belfast Hills. It was formed in response to ongoing concerns about the exploitation and degeneration of landscapes and habitats in the Belfast Hills during the 1980s and 1990s.

It currently runs physical and mental health initiatives for people living in some of the most deprived areas in the north and west of the city from its offices in the unemployment blackspot of West Belfast.

The current proposal is to cut £250,000 awarded between 2007 and 2010 to £135,000 in the 2010 to 2013 raft - a whopping 54 per cent slashing of funds.

Read this story in full here: Belfast Hills Partnership