One element of the controversial draft byelaws document may be fast-tracked for special events
Belfast City Council may fast-track a new city centre noise byelaw to stop amplified buskers and preachers spoiling the Fleadh Ceoil this summer and other special events.
There has been division and u-turns in the chamber at City Hall over draft byelaws concerning busker and street preacher noise. A new document had been agreed by Belfast councillors at committee level, but then was forced back to the drawing board after a number of parties changed their positions under the greater spotlight of the full council meeting.
Councillors unanimously agreed new draft amenity byelaws in November at the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, which would have meant individuals could be fined if they go over 70 decibels with public performance in the city. With no elected representatives at the meeting airing any direct objections, the matter did not go to a vote, and it appeared the agreement would sail through ratification at full council, and would go to Stormont for the green light.
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However, at the full monthly Belfast City Council meeting on December 1, a number of parties aired outright rejection of the draft byelaws, and the chamber agreed the draft goes back to committee level, after an Alliance proposal which stated they “did not go far enough.” Both Alliance and the DUP who at committee level did not reject the proposal, at the full council meeting aired throaty objections.
The byelaws would have meant those going over 70 decibels would be fined up to £500 for an offence. The byelaws, if they go to statute, would effectively end loud amplification for individuals in the city centre. Examples of 70 dB sound would be a noisy vacuum cleaner, a dishwasher, or a loud conversation.
The draft byelaws also contained provisions for the surrender of alcohol in designated places in the city centre. An earlier version of the draft byelaws had proposals that buskers, preachers and other public speakers would have to ask the council for a permit, but this proposal was dropped.
Alliance Councillor Jenna Maghie said she could not support the byelaws because the draft did not contain measures to counteract disturbing images being displayed, particularly those from pro-life groups, while DUP Alderman Dean McCullough said the byelaws were “driven by a desire to target certain groups, primarily street preachers and the pro-life witnesses.”
However, at the latest meeting of the council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, councillors agreed to send one aspect of the draft byelaws document to Stormont, in order to fast track the process for special events, with the Fleadh Ceoil in mind.
Belfast will be the host city for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2026, for the first time. One of the biggest festivals of traditional Irish culture in the world, the Fleadh Cheoil attracts many tens of thousands of international visitors.
Around half a million visitors are expected to attend what is the world’s largest annual festival of Irish music, song and dance. In its 60 year history the festival has only been held once in Northern Ireland, in Derry in 2013.
Councillors at the latest council committee meeting unanimously agreed to authorise officers to engage with the Stormont Department for Communities in relation to the revised draft byelaws which related only to arrangements for special events, such as the Fleadh.
They also agreed that a report be submitted to the committee in February in relation to the options on the remainder of the revised draft byelaws, including the enforcement of existing byelaws. The decisions are subject to ratification at the next full council meeting, on January 8.
The City Solicitor Nora Largey said at the S,P and R meeting: “Having had the experience of the Fleadh, there are so many performers who want to come onto the streets, and play traditional music to people who are dancing to it as a backtrack.
“There is a very special feel about the Fleadh, in that it doesn’t have amplification. It is something we would be looking to bring forward, regardless of these byelaws, something we can do to create that atmosphere for the purposes of the Fleadh.”
Alliance Councillor Jenna Maghie said: “In order for us to have the most successful Fleadh we can have, I would be content that we have that conversation.
“I think if everybody is agreed with that then we have to recognise that there is an irony where we are happy to suspend amplification to enable more street performers, to add to the colour of this city, when on other days people around this table are content for them to be drowned out by people shouting over the top of them. That is not the case in many many other cities.”
She said: “If we are all content for us to do that, to enjoy entertainment and colour in our city when there is a special event on, then I do not understand why we would not be happy to do that on a normal day.”
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