Minutes:
The Committee was reminded that, on 14th May, 2013, the Deputy Lord Mayor had hosted a charity boxing match in the City Hall in order to raise funds for the Oscar Knox Appeal, which was one of the charities she had supported during her term in office. Each of the three Civic Dignitaries was permitted the use of the City Hall for two charity events. That was the first occasion that the City Hall had been used for a boxing event. In addition, the Council had the previous year approved a boxing strategy which sought to provide greater support to boxing clubs in the City.
The Democratic Services Manager reported that a request for the use of the City Hall for a boxing event had been received from the Dockers’ Amateur Boxing Club. The event was the 25th Anniversary of a boxing tournament between the Dockers and the Repton Boxing Club from London. The event was held annually and, when held in Belfast, was usually hosted at the Dockers’ Club. The Club had also requested the provision of Civic Hospitality and estimated that approximately 250 persons would be in attendance. The event would comprise a five-course sit down meal following by a boxing tournament featuring nine fights. The Council was being requested to grant the use of the City Hall and to provide a pre-dinner drinks reception.
He pointed out that the criteria for the use of the City Hall did not envisage the building being used as a sporting venue and, therefore, it was not possible currently to assess the application using that criteria. Had the application been for the use of the building for a 25th Anniversary reception alone, without the boxing element, then it would have met the Council’s established criteria and would have been recommended for approval.
The Democratic Services Manager requested that in considering the application the Committee note that:
· the granting of approval would establish a precedent that the building was a potential venue for sporting events;
· allowing the City Hall to be used for such sporting events placed it in competition with outside hotels and stadia and also in direct competition with Council-owned venues such as the Ulster and Waterfront Halls which were income generating for the Council; and
· there were not any logistical concerns which would prevent the City Hall from being used for such sporting events.
Facilities Management had confirmed that the Council’s Entertainments Licence allowed such events to take place, although they had highlighted that any event of that nature would need to adhere to very strict conditions laid down by the Boxing Authorities such as health and safety and first-aid, including having an ambulance on site.
Accordingly, he requested the Committee consider two questions:
(1) should the criteria for the use of the City Hall be amended to provide that applications for sporting events would be considered; and
(2) if the Committee was minded to do so, to then consider if the use of the City Hall should be approved on this occasion for the Dockers’ Club event.
If the Committee was minded to agree to the use of the City Hall for sporting events then, in order to mitigate against a proliferation of applications being received, it was recommended that some restrictions were established. For example, the Committee might wish to restrict the use to sporting events which were celebrating a significant anniversary (25th, 50th, 75th) and/or it might wish to establish that only a certain number of sporting events would be supported each year.
After discussion, the Committee granted approval for the Dockers’ Boxing Club to use the City Hall for the event as outlined since the boxing element of the event was secondary to the celebration dinner for the 25th Anniversary of the tournament and agreed further that the overall question of the use of the City Hall for sporting events be considered in the ongoing review of the criteria for the use of the City Hall which would be submitted to the Committee in due course.
Supporting documents: