Agenda and minutes

            No apologies were reported.

            The minutes of the meeting of 14th February were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 5th March, subject to the omission of those matters in respect of which the Council had delegated its powers to the Committee.

No declarations of interest were reported.

            The Committee noted a list of licences and permits which had been issued under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       To consider applications for Entertainments Licences where the applicant has been convicted of an offence under the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions (NI) Order 1985 (the Order) within the previous five years.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       Taking into account the information presented, you are required to consider the applications and to:-

·        Approve the applications, or

·        Should you be of a mind to refuse any of the applications, or approve any applications with additional special conditions, an opportunity of appearing before and of being heard by the Committee must be given to the applicants.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       Members are reminded that the normal process for dealing with Entertainments Licence applications which are not the subject of objections is that the licence will be granted as provided for in the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.

3.2       However, as each applicant has been found guilty of committing an offence within five years of the application for a licence being submitted to the Council, you are required to consider the following applications.

3.3       Notwithstanding the possibility of refusing an Entertainments Licence on any other grounds, the Council may refuse an application on the grounds that the applicant has been convicted of an offence under the Order.

            Application history

3.4       Previous applications for the aforementioned premises were considered by the Committee as follows:

            Bootleggers

3.5       This application is being placed before Committee because the applicant was convicted of offences under the Order at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on 21 February 2017, after a during performance inspection carried out in May 2016, found that the required minimum clear distance through a rear escape route was not being maintained and the appropriate pre-entertainments checks were not carried out prior to the entertainment taking place.

3.6       This is the second time an application for this premises have been brought before Committee as you previously considered the application at your meeting of 15 March 2017 and, after consideration, you agreed to renew the licence.

3.7       Since the previous renewal the premises has been subject to one further during performance inspection as well as the recent renewal inspection to ensure that there has been no recurrence of the breach or any other safety issues. We have found that management procedures are being implemented effectively.

            Dukes at Queens

3.8       This application is being placed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

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

“1.0     Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival will run their annual musical arts festival over eleven nights within a marquee at Custom House Square from Thursday 3rd May to Sunday 13th May 2018. This report is to consider a request from the organisers to permit entertainment to run beyond 11.00 pm to 12.00 am on two of those nights.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       Taking into account the information presented and any representations received you are required to consider the request to extend the hours of entertainment and, subject to all technical requirements being met, either:

1.     Agree if either or both of the two proposed nights should be permitted to take place beyond the standard hours of licence or;

2.     Refuse either or both of the extended hours as requested.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       Custom House Square is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and they currently hold both a 7-Day Annual Outdoor Entertainments Licence and a 7-Day Annual Marquee Entertainments Licence for the Square.

3.2       The standard days and hours during which the marquee is currently licensed to provide entertainment are:

·        Monday to Sunday:   11.30 am to 11.00 pm.

3.3       In addition, the following conditions are attached to the Entertainments Licence:

1.     Maximum numbers will be agreed at the discretion of the Building Control Service and will vary depending upon individual concert set up proposals.

2.     Prior to any event taking place the promoters are required to demonstrate evidence of early consultation and have in place a robust system of dealing with any complaints, which has been agreed in advance with the Council.

3.     Any requests to provide entertainment later than 23:00hrs must be considered by the Licensing Committee and therefore must be made at least 3 months in advance of the proposed event.

4.     Should the Council receive a significant number of noise complaints for any event which has successive nights of entertainment permitted beyond 23:00hrs or if a complaint about an event beyond 23:00hrs is of major concern, then those successive nights with later hours may be subject to reduction and the promoter should have appropriate arrangements in place should this occur.

3.4       The Cathedral Quarter Arts festival has been taking place for the last 18 years and includes a wide programme of events of local, national and international music, literature, comedy and drama. The event is also regarded as being an integral part of the arts and cultural calendar in Belfast.

3.5       Members will recall that in previous years the Committee has granted extensions beyond the standard hours of 11.00 pm for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. This was last considered by the Committee at your meeting on the 15 March 2017 when the organisers requested that entertainment be permitted beyond 11.00 pm to 12.00 am on three nights of the event. After consideration you agreed to grant the request to extend the hours.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

            The information contained in the following report is restricted in accordance with Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014.

      Resolved – That the Committee agrees to exclude the members of the Press and public from the Committee meeting during discussion of this item as, due to the nature of the item, there would be a disclosure of exempt information as described in Section 42(4) and Section 6 of the Local Government Act (NI) 2014.

            Accordingly, all persons seated within the pubic area of the room, including the applicants and their legal representative in connection with the following item were excluded from the room.

            The Building Control Manager pointed out that, at this stage, the Committee would not be considering the application but would do so when the applicants and their legal representatives were re-admitted to the meeting.

            He then proceeded to outline to the Committee the rationale for restricting the report and that this related to a previous event at the venue in respect of which there was currently an internal disciplinary investigation against a member of staff.

            The applicants, Mr. G. Flynn and Mr. L. Lynch, and their legal representative, Ms. M. Lowry, were at this stage re-admitted to the meeting.  The Building Control Manager reiterated to the Members of the deputation the reasons why they had been excluded for a short period and the Committee had not, as yet, commenced consideration of the applications.

            The Building Control Manager then proceeded to review the applications which were for the grant of a Seven-Day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence and a Seven-Day Annual Outdoor Entertainments Licence for the former B&Q building, now known as South 13, based on the Council’s standard conditions to provide indoor music, singing, dancing or any other entertainment of a like kind, theatrical performances, a circus and outdoor musical entertainment.

            The applicants and their legal representative were thereupon invited to the table to address a number of the issues which had been raised within the report.

            Ms Lowry, solicitor for the applicant, stated that the applicant wished to reserve its position in relation to some of the contents of the report as it was factually incorrect. The Chairperson advised that there was a disciplinary investigation ongoing and the Committee could not do anything which could prejudice that investigation. The Chairperson pointed out that this was the first time the Committee was aware there was an issue with the contents of the report. The Committee was advised that the report had only been shared with the applicant recently and the applicant would probably take issue with some of the contents. Ms Lowry advised the Committee that the report should not detract from the rights of the applicant and that, subsequent to conviction, the applicant had been granted a licence for other premises on 3 occasions. The Deputation then answered a number of questions from the Members and they retired from the table.

Proposed by Councillor McReynolds,

Seconded by Councillor Hutchinson,

      That the Committee agrees to defer consideration of the applications until the internal disciplinary investigation had concluded.

            As there were no amendments to the proposal, the Chairperson permitted the deputation to again address the Committee to outline the effects a deferral would have on their business.

            Ms. Lowry advised the Committee that the proposal for the deferral would have a serious impact on the company as to whether or not it could continue to trade.  It was suggested that the Council could grant a temporary licence for a period of three months to allow the disciplinary investigation to be completed.  The applicants stated that they would be willing to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.