Agenda and minutes

            Apologies for inability to attend were reported on behalf of Alderman McCoubrey and Councillors Michael Collins and McKeown.

            The minutes of the meeting of 19th January were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 1st February, subject to the omission of those matters in respect of which the Council had delegated its powers to the Committee.

            Councillor Mulholland declared an interest in relation to item 3a – Review of Reduced Fees for Entertainments Licences, on the basis that she worked for an organisation which held an Entertainments Licence, and left the meeting for the duration of the discussion.

The Committee noted a list of applications for licences and Road Closure Orders which had, since its last meeting, been approved under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.

            The Committee noted a list of licences for Houses in Multiple Occupation which had, since its last meeting, been issued under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.

            The Building Control Manager submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1       To seek agreement on a response to the Department for Communities (DfC) query regarding the continuation of a reduced fee of £1 for applications for the renewal of Entertainment Licences for the 2022/23 financial year.

2.0       Recommendation

2.1       The Committee is asked to consider whether the reduced fee of £1 should continue to apply to applications for the renewal of Entertainment Licences for the 2022/23 financial year and determine whether:

1.     to extend this measure for the financial year 2022/23; or

2.     to revert to pre-April 2021 fee levels with effect from 6th April, 2022.

3.0       Background

3.1       In February 2021, DfC determined that a reduced fee of £1 would apply to applications for the renewal of all categories of entertainments licence, both indoor and outdoor, received on or after 6th April, 2021.

3.2       This reduction applies for the duration of the 2021/2022 financial year and was introduced to alleviate hardship being experienced by the hospitality industry because of Covid-19 restrictions.

3.2       Following the first lockdown in March 2020 and the significant impact that this had on the hospitality sector, several interim measures were agreed with the City Solicitor to assist licensees and primarily those with entertainment, cinema or street trading licences.

3.4       These included:

·        accepting confirmation of an intention to renew, to ensure subsistence of the licence, and agreeing the application and associated fee may be provided at a later date;

·        temporarily suspending the requirement to place a legal notice in the press;

·        not requesting certificates that would normally be submitted with a licence application until a later date; and

·        agreeing extended licence periods in recognition of lockdown restrictions.

3.5       These measures were in place for renewal applications between April, 2020 and June, 2021.

3.6       Since June last year, the Building Control Service has undertaken an extensive review of all entertainment licensing applications and has been in contact with licensees concerning the status of their licence. The Service has taken a flexible approach to assist them as equitably as possible, in a way that is seen to be supportive of business recovery and in a manner that will be legally defensible.

3.7       During that time, the Service has processed almost 300 entertainment licence renewals and has attempted, as far as possible, to enable the applicant to avail of the £1 renewal fee.

3.8       For any applications where objections have been received, these have not been renewed under these processes and will be subject to Committee consideration as normal.

4.0       Key Issues

4.1       In a letter dated 19th January 2022, DfC has asked for the Council’s view on the reduced fee of £1 for applications for the renewal of all categories of entertainments licences, which only applies to the 2021/2022 financial year, and whether:

·        there is a need to extend this measure beyond this period or,

·        if the fees should revert to their pre-April 2021 levels with effect from April  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

            The Building Control Manager submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1       To consider a request from a cinema operator to create a new classification rating of ‘15A’ for the broadcast of ‘The Batman’ film in cinemas within the Belfast City Council area.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is requested, having heard representation from the applicant, to decide whether to:

a)     depart from Standard Licence Condition 2 (b) which states that ‘No persons under the age of fifteen years shall be admitted to any Exhibition when a ‘15’ film is in the programme’ and to permit cinema operators to impose a rating of ‘15A’ for the Belfast City Council area in respect of ‘The Batman’ film which would mean that patrons under the age of 15 would be permitted entrance to view the film when accompanied by an adult.

                  OR

b)     refuse the request to depart from the Standard Licence Condition and require the cinema operator to comply with the rating determined by the BBFC.

2.2       Whilst there is a general provision for appeals in relation to the conditions placed on Cinema Licences, there is no right of appeal in respect of this decision.

3.0       Main Report

            Key Issues

3.1       Councils’ licence cinemas and other venues under the Cinemas (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 for the exhibition of films.  In general, the legislation relates to technical matters such as structural stability and fire safety and, as such, the powers to issue licences are delegated to the Director of Planning and Building Control.

3.2       Unlike other Licensing schemes, there is no public notification and representation process for Cinema Licence applications hence there is normally no involvement of the Committee with Cinema Licensing.

3.3       Belfast City Council (‘the Council’) has established Conditions of Licence regarding the general running and administration of the premises. One such Condition is that only films which have been classified with a Certificate issued by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) may be shown.

3.4       The BBFC is an independent body which classifies all films on behalf of local authorities, and they have strict guidelines and criteria in awarding films a classification. The BBFC Classification Guidelines have been circulated.

3.5       The BBFC system is used by all authorities within the United Kingdom and all commercial films will be classified through this process. The Council has adopted the BBFC classifications within the Licence Conditions on all Cinema Licences granted in its jurisdiction.

3.6       Article 3 (3) (a) of the Cinemas (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 states that it shall be the duty of a district council, in granting a licence under this Article as respects any premises to:

            ‘impose conditions or restrictions prohibiting the admission of children to film exhibitions involving the showing of works designated, by the council or by such other body as may be specified in the licence, as works unsuitable for children’.

3.7       Paragraph 2 (b) of the Council’s Standard Licence conditions states that:

            ‘No persons under the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee noted that the Divisional Solicitor would be writing to the Department for Communities to highlight issues around its recently published revised model terms, conditions and restrictions which may be specified by councils in Entertainments Licences and that a detailed report on the implications for the Council would be submitted to a future meeting.