Agenda item

The Director provided the details of the application to the Committee.  The applicant had applied to provide entertainment in the form of live music, within an outdoor area.  The site was adjacent to the former 1st Shankill NI Supporters Club, part of which had been demolished, creating additional outside space.  Planning permission had recently been granted for the refurbishment of the remaining building and a two-storey side and rear extension to provide an upgraded bar, function room and restaurant (LA04/2022/1450/F).  Therefore, it was envisaged that use of the site for outdoor entertainment would be for a limited timeframe.

The Committee was advised that the applicant intended to provide local, all age/family one day events, probably on a Saturday, running from approximately 13:00 – 23:00.  The day and hours proposed to allow entertainment to be provided were the standard outdoor entertainment hours of:

·         Monday to Sunday: 12:00 pm to 11.00pm

Public notice of the application had been placed in the newspaper and no written representations were lodged as a result of the advertisement.

The PSNI had been consulted and had confirmed that it had no objection to the application. 

The NIFRS had been consulted but had not yet submitted a response.  The Director confirmed that, if the Committee did approve the application, it would be subject to a satisfactory response from the NIFRS.

The Committee was advised that the proposed event space had been assessed and inspected by the Service and that it was considered suitable for the event type proposed.  An Event Management Plan for the proposed events had been requested and would be evaluated by officers.

            The applicant had provided the Service with a noise impact assessment report from an acoustic consultant for the outdoor area which had been evaluated by the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU).  As a result, there was a requirement that the applicant would provide advanced notification to residents in the vicinity of the site when entertainment was to be provided. Such neighbourhood notification was a usual requirement for outdoor music events.  A Neighbourhood Notification letter had been developed by the applicant and agreement had been reached on the properties to receive the notification. 

            The Chairperson welcomed the applicant, Mr. W. McAdam and his representative Mr. J. McGuigan, to the meeting.  Together they outlined that they had engaged with the PSNI, NIFRS and local representatives about the use of the outdoor site, initially to remove some of the crowds from the street on the days of band parades.  However, they explained that they had also spoken with some charities and bands about using the space and that they wanted it to be used for family and all-age events.  They highlighted that they wanted the space to be used by R-CITY, a cross-community initiative working with teenagers living in the Ardoyne, Shankill and Clonard areas.

            A number of Members stated that it was good to see some initiative having been shown by the owners, in terms of animating that part of the city.

            Moved by Alderman McCullough,

            Seconded by Councillor McDowell and

         Resolved- that the Committee approves the application for the grant of a 14-Day Occasional Outdoor Entertainments Licence, with the standard hours of Monday to Sunday: 12:00 pm to 11.00pm.