Question
Chief Constable advised of a written response on why an effective traffic management plan was not in place at the recent Red Bull soapbox race at Stormont Estate, and lessons to be learned in relation to coordination and communication by all parties involved.
Answer
The Police Service of Northern Ireland were aware of the Red Bull Soapbox Race on Sunday 17 May 2026. The Red Bull Soapbox Race is a privately run event solely contained within the grounds of Stormont Estate. As per any privately run event the Event Organiser is responsible for their own Event Management Plan and Traffic Management Plan. For the Red Bull Soapbox Race there were a number of steps taken by the Event Organiser to help with traffic in and around the event which as they have outlined, including:
- No waiting cones for a 1400m stretch on both sides of the Upper Newtownards Road.
- Circa 3500 plus free parking spaces between Stormont Estate, Dunaldy Park and Ride and Dundonald High School which were all sign posted using VMS and yellow and black signs which by 4.30pm still had circa 300-500 empty spaces.
- A traffic management team and dedicated event stewards to manage car parking;
- Additional services put on by Translink;
- Traffic wardens specifically for the event;
And a specific number of police resources requested by the Event organiser which were supplied.
The plans for the event did not require police to use emergency powers to manage traffic on the roads, however, when it became clear to police around 15:00hrs on Sunday 17 May 2026 that there was a significant build-up of traffic in the Stormont area, and there was a large amount of people leaving the event due to the weather, police responded with accordingly to manage and divert traffic accordingly which was then successfully cleared.
Police noted that there was a significant number of vehicles parked inconsiderately, mostly in tight residential streets, sometimes ensuring that it was impossible for vehicles to be able to pass one another, which led to the significant build-up of traffic at that time. The consequences of such inconsiderate parking should have been more than obvious to those members of the public when doing so. In a press release after the event police have asked all motorists attending such events to be considerate to both residents and other motorists using the roads when parking their vehicles.
While many events run within the grounds of Stormont throughout the year without police involvement the Police Events Team for Belfast based in Musgrave PSNI will review this incident for any learning, and apply this to any future Red Bull Soap Box Racing events at Stormont.Cheryl Brownlee MLA - DUP