BALMORAL Councillor Geraldine McAteer has met City Hall officials to discuss residents' concerns over a number of blockbuster summer concerts at Boucher Playing Fields.
At the meeting on Monday evening in Musgrave Bowling Pavilion, residents had the chance to relay problems they faced during concerts last year and put forward suggestions as to how things can be made better this year.
The concert season at the South Belfast venue begins on May 9 with American rock legend Bruce Springsteen. Liam Gallagher and Noah Kahan will headline the Emerge Festival in August.
Speaking after the meeting, Councillor McAteer said: “Belfast is now firmly on the map as a key destination for world class artists and May 9th will see Bruce Springsteen play at Boucher Playing Fields.
"It will be a fantastic event for the city and it will no doubt lift the mood this spring and boost tourism and businesses.
"It is also a huge logistical challenge for concert organisers and especially for the local residents of Stockmans Lane, Weston Drive and Musgrave Park Court who will see the roads closed where they live and thousands of concert goers pass by their doors.
"The meeting on Monday was a good opportunity for residents to relay their experiences of concerts from last year and discuss practical ways in which arrangements regarding the concerts can be improved for the four concerts coming up this year.
"The issues we covered included residents accessing their homes and getting passes for their cars during the road closures, location of fencing, security and toilets, traffic management, cleansing and communications with events staff on the day of the concerts.
"It was a very positive and constructive meeting and I want to thank the PSNI and Council officers for going through the various issues with residents.
"Council officers and I will be meeting the concert promotors to go through the management plan with them and ensure the residents' issues are taken on board. We did this last year with some promotors and the residents agreed on Monday that this led to good improvements being made.
"I have to say that some residents have had serious issues with people using their gardens as toilets and with bottles and rubbish being left behind. It was widely acknowledged that this generally does not happen with older audiences but is more so the case at events with young concert goers.
"We will be holding meetings with residents after each concert to gauge how things went for them and I hope that their experience will have been improved on previous years."
