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Brendan Hughes reported for BBC News NI that major music events scheduled to take place in Belfast this summer, featuring artists like Sam Fender and Fontaines DC, are facing uncertainty due to a disagreement regarding “health and safety arrangements”. The council-owned Boucher Road Playing Fields, where the gigs were planned to be held, previously used a neighboring site owned by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) as an emergency exit point. However, this time around, the fire service has not granted Belfast City Council (BCC) permission to use the site for this purpose.
The playing fields are a popular venue for large-scale concerts, attracting audiences of around 40,000 people. Scheduled events for the summer include performances by Sam Fender, Fontaines DC with support from Kneecap, and the two-day Farmer’s Bash festival. In previous years, a site adjacent to the playing fields, which was formerly used as a training center by NIFRS, served as an access and exit route. The land is now owned by the council and was previously leased to the fire service, which vacated the premises last year upon opening a new training facility outside Cookstown, County Tyrone.
The dispute over access to the Belfast site revolves around safety and security concerns. Additionally, it has been suggested that the fire service has raised questions about how using the site may impact a rates discount for unoccupied properties. A spokesperson for NIFRS stated that the site is currently undergoing a divestment process and expressed support for an agreement that would see the lease revert to the control of Belfast City Council to facilitate the necessary health and safety measures for the upcoming summer concerts. The council has been in talks with NIFRS in an effort to ensure that the essential arrangements, including emergency exit access through the NIFRS site, are in place.
Despite these efforts, the matter remains unresolved, and the council has sought assistance from Stormont’s Department of Health, which oversees the operations of NIFRS. The Department stated that the issue is within the purview of NIFRS and its board. MCD Productions, the organization behind some of the planned concerts at the playing fields this summer, was contacted for comment but has not yet responded
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