Appendix 1

Application to hold an Outdoor Music Event in Custom House Square

The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

An application has been received from Ltd. to hold a 3-day outdoor music event which will go beyond the 11.00pm standard licence at Custom House Square, the main licence for the location being held by the Department of Social Development.

Location Ref. No. Applicant

Custom House Square WK/2009/01350 Mr P Donaldson , BT1 3BG Belsonic Ltd.

Custom House Square is a purpose built public performance space which hosts numerous and varied musical and cultural events throughout the year. The Square is the responsibility of the Department for Social Development which holds a 7-day annual licence permitting outdoor entertainment and entertainment in a marquee.

The standard days and hours during which Custom House Square is currently licensed to provide entertainment are:

Monday to Sunday: 11.30 am to 11.00 pm

In addition, a special condition on the Custom House Square licence allows the licensee to apply for additional hours later than 11.00pm which may or may not be granted dependent upon any noise issues which may have arisen from previous events there.

An increasing number of people are now living in the immediate vicinity of Custom House Square and further accommodation will soon become available at the Obel and Boat apartment developments. The Council already receives a considerable number of applications from promoters for outdoor musical events at the Square and, during the summer months, these can sometimes occur on a weekly basis.

Members are asked to consider the request to run the ‘Belsonic’ outdoor music event at Custom House Square. The promoters anticipate that it will take place in Custom House Square over 3 nights in the last two weeks in August, hopefully over the bank holiday weekend, and on two of these nights permission is sought to run to 1.00am.

Key Issues

This is the third consecutive year that application has been made for this event and Mr Donaldson, Director of Belsonic Ltd., has submitted a letter outlining the background to the event. In it, he explains that Belsonic is a series of stand alone, multi-artist, outdoor concerts forming part of an integrated programme at Custom House Square. The promoter claims the Square's transformation into a concert arena for Belsonic has been a resounding success, with first-class production standards and thoughtful services, augmenting the historic surroundings.

Previous events have featured acts including The Flaming Lips, 2many DJ’s live, Dizzee Rascal, Deadmau5, Vampire Weekend, The Zutons, The Enemy, Mogwai, Boys Noize, Reverend & The Makers, Go! Team, and The Magic Numbers amongst many others. Belsonic claim last year’s event was extremely successful, attracting over 10,000 patrons, and generating a significant level of financial activity in the city centre. The 2008 and 2009 events were the largest outdoor musical concerts in Belfast in the respective years and attracted a significant attendance from outside of Northern Ireland. The BBC recorded selected 2008 and 2009 performances for television and radio broadcast and are in an advanced stage of negotiations for national broadcast in 2010 on BBC Radio 1. In 2009 this event took place on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings of the August Bank Holiday weekend. Finish times for the event were 11.45pm on the Thursday night, 12.50am on the Friday and 12.35am on the Saturday night. Belsonic have stated that any future event depends on being able to operate to approximately 1.00am on at least two of the evenings over the weekend. This is primarily due to the need to programme a variety of musical talent which will appeal to a cross section of people and make this event financially viable. Prior to last year’s event, discussions were held with the promoters regarding the proposed finish times later than 11:00pm. As has been the case in the past the promoters notified occupants of the nearby Queen’s Square apartments and the Salvation Army building about the event giving them information of who to contact in the event of complaints. In addition, residents of the new Custom House apartments were similarly advised about Belsonic and no objections or concerns regarding the event were raised. Following complaints received from businesses in the Custom House Square area during the sound checks conducted for the 2008 event, the promoters also held discussions with businesses there to agree a timetable for the sound checks that would minimise disturbance during business hours. Sound checks for the 2009 event went smoothly and without complaint due to this improved communication with interested business parties. For the 2009 event, Officers within the Environmental Protection Unit of the Department expressed particular concern as the location of the stage for this event was only a matter of metres from the Custom House Apartments, construction of which was not complete in 2008. It was their view that residents living in these newly occupied apartments would be exposed to unreasonably high levels of noise from the event and monitoring of noise levels was therefore undertaken. The noise readings obtained by Environmental Protection at Belsonic 2009 confirmed that an event of this nature at this venue would be very unlikely to meet the noise limits not to be exceeded at noise-sensitive premises as recommended in the ‘Code of Practice on Environmental Noise at Concerts’. Although, despite these levels, it is the case that only 3 complaints concerning noise were received over the course of the 2009 event. Having said that, it may not necessarily be concluded that residents in this area would, year on year, continue to tolerate an annual 3 day event finishing beyond 11:00pm. To further minimise noise breakout, the promoters intend to utilise a sound system for future events that will incorporate advanced technology which involves the use of a cardio sub bass set up to decrease the omni directional effects of sub bass. This equipment has already been booked by their audio consultants. Belsonic Ltd. has also given an assurance that they will continue to address any issues that may arise as a result of their events. The Police Service Northern Ireland has been consulted about the Belsonic event and has made no objection to it nor raised any concerns about previous Belsonic events. As this is not an application for a licence, but a request of Council’s permission to extend hours under an existing licence condition then there is no public advertisement provision. Representatives of both the Department for Social Development and Belsonic will be available should you wish to seek further information on these proposals. Officers from the Environmental Protection Unit will also be available to answer any queries in relation to noise issues. Resource Implications Financial None. Human Resources

Officers will be required to police the event but this is catered for in existing budgets. Asset and Other Implications

None.

Decision Having considered this information and any representations received you are then required to determine:-

1. If the Belsonic Event should be permitted to take place as it is beyond the standard hours of licence and, if so:

2. An appropriate finishing time for each of the 3 nights of the event, and 3. Any other reasonable conditions to be attached to the licence in relation to measures that must be taken to minimise noise disturbance.

To assist Members, should you be of a mind to permit the event to take place, the following are possible conditions to consider attaching to the licence:

 Prior to the event proceeding the promoters of Belsonic are required to demonstrate evidence of early consultation in relation to the intended event.

 The event is staged subject to the promoter using the advanced technology sound system described in their supporting letter.

 A robust system, agreed in advance with the Council, to deal with any complaints from local residents over the course of the event is put in place.

 If a significant number of complaints are received about noise or the complaint is of such significant impact, then the finishing time for subsequent evenings of the event will be reduced and the promoter should make contingency arrangements for this eventuality.

Members may of course introduce any other reasonable conditions they see fit.”

After discussion, it was

Resolved – That the Committee, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, agrees that the standard hours within the Entertainments Licence relating to Custom House Square be amended to enable Belsonic Limited to hold an outdoor concert at the venue on three nights in late August, subject to the conditions that:

(i) entertainment cease on two nights by 1.00 a.m. and on the other night by midnight, the specific nights to be identified in consultation with Belsonic Limited;

(ii) prior to the concert proceeding, the promoter is required to demonstrate evidence of early consultation with residents and businesses in the immediate vicinity of the venue;

(iii) the promoter use the advanced technology sound system as outlined within the supporting letter provided to the Building Control Service;

(iv) a robust system is put in place and agreed by the Council to deal with any complaints from local residents arising over the course of the event; and

(v) should a significant number of complaints be received regarding noise or the complaint be of such significant impact, the finishing time for subsequent evenings of the event would be reduced, in which case, the promoter should make contingency arrangements.