Alliance and SDLP disappointed new Belfast byelaws don't go further with restrictions
Alliance and the SDLP have voiced disappointment at new city centre byelaws that will limit busker and street preacher noise.
While all parties at a Belfast City Council committee meeting agreed the new byelaws, which with full council ratification will be sent to Stormont for the green light, Alliance have said the byelaws do not cover a wide enough remit and the SDLP have raised issues over police enforcement.
The byelaws will mean people can be fined if they go over 70 decibels of noise levels.
The byelaws will 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 City Solicitor Nora Largey told a committee meeting: “There was a general consensus there were some performers, and when we say performers we include anybody who uses amplification in the city centre, who are simply too loud.
“That is having a detrimental impact on (workers and visitors), as well as some people who have disabilities. The noise is off putting for disabled people coming into the city centre, particularly those with neurodivergent disabilities.”
However the City Solicitor said the draft byelaws had separated issues of graphic imagery away from noise, and these issues would be returned to. Some councillors and members of the public have complained about the display of images relating to the subject of abortion by certain groups, as well as public speech being directed against certain minority groups such as LGBTQ groups.
Alliance Councillor Jenna Maghie said: “I am really struggling with the proposals because I don’t feel they go far enough.
"The paper notes amplification and the display of graphic imagery can have a negative effect on social and economic activity.
“Specifically about the display of imagery, it is more than that, it is genuinely traumatising for some people in our city.
She added: “I am not willing to wait on tackling the traumatisation of women in this city. What we have to endure is not okay. I have heard from women who have had to walk past those signs to access medical care, and I am not okay with those women continuing with that in this city.”
The City Solicitor said: “The graphic imagery came through really strongly in the consultation process, but I think we have to be realistic through what we can achieve. That’s not to say the work on graphic imagery is parked, I suppose what we are doing is separating those two things out.
SDLP Councillor Séamas de Faoite said: “I am concerned the PSNI told both individuals and organisations two years ago that they would be using existing powers under the Public Order (NI) Order 1987 to deal with some of the obstructive, threatening and abusive behaviour in the city centre. To date I am not aware of how much they have used those powers.
“One of the other concerning things (coming from) the PSNI is our assessment that their proposals of an aggravator model in relation to hate crimes do not go far enough in terms of actually being able to tackle some of the issues that we have seen in the city centre, that have been raised by a number of protected minority groups.
“We need a standalone hate crime bill in this place in order to deal with some of those issues. The proposals coming through the assembly will only change issues in relation to sentencing.
He said: “I propose we write to the Justice Minister outlining our disappointment there is not a standalone hate crime bill, and call for such to be drafted, that we recognise there is a need for the creation for the creation of an additional class of offences, and that the change in model around sentencing is not enough.
“We were assured by the PSNI they would start using these powers in relation to some of the hate speech in the city centre. And as part of one of the minority communities that is subjected to that abuse and hate speech, I am disappointed and dismayed that we are still in a position where vulnerable people are exposed to behaviour that is provocative, threatening and risks stirring up hatred.”
Elected representatives approved the revised byelaws, to be sent to the Department for Communities at Stormont. Councillors also agreed for a report to be returned by council officers as to how the byelaws would be enforced at the railings around City Hall, and a further report to be returned on how the council intends to deal with the display of graphic imagery in public.