A council is set to to be the first in the north to introduce a permitting system for bonfires.
It is expected that members of nationalist controlled Mid Ulster District Council will ratify the move at a full council meeting later today.
The controversial plan was passed by the council’s environment committee last week.
It is believed to be the first time a local council has signalled its intention to introduce a licensing system for bonfires.
The proposal to regulate pyres comes after the council set up a Bonfire Working Group last year.
A report published by the council last year said it spent more than £17,500 clearing up pyre sites in June and July.
It also revealed that there are currently eight bonfires held on council land across the district.
Under the new proposals the council wants to introduce a Bonfire Management Programme forcing organisers to ensure that “no hazardous or toxic materials are collected, stored or burned”.
Organises will also have to ensure that “no flags, emblems or effigies are burned”.
Each year thousands of tyres are placed on loyalist bonfires across the north ahead of Eleventh Night celebrations which produces potentially poisonous clouds of smoke.
In the past Irish tricolours, election posters and effigies of nationalist and other politicians have also been placed on the annual bonfires in unionist areas.
Firefighters have also been on the front line in dealing with potentially dangerous high rise pyres, which have in the past caused damage to homes and other properties.
Last week unionists in Belfast produced their own report on how to deal with bonfires but failed to mention the role of loyalist paramilitaries in some events.
While nationalists traditionally held anti-internment bonfires across the north, in recent years the practice outside main towns and cities has largely died out.
Mid Ulster council removed tyres from several sites in Cookstown ahead of last year’s Eleventh Night fires.
A spokeswoman for the council last night said: “The proposals would mean that a bonfire will only be considered on council land where the organiser can demonstrate the event and site will be managed safely and where certain conditions are met, e.g. no hazardous or toxic materials are collected, stored or burned; no flags, emblems or effigies are burned.
“Organisers would, therefore, apply for permission to stage a bonfire on council property. The detail of the application process will be considered once the council has agreed to implement the committee’s recommendations.”
Sinn Féin councilor Ronan McGinley, who chairs the environment committee, said “this is the right action to be taken by Mid Ulster District Council”.
“At times, these events have been extremely damaging to good relations in our area,” he said.
“There have been events with hate crime and sectarianism, and we simply cannot allow this to continue on council property without being challenged.
“Some of these breaches of legislation have also been underpinned by claims of intimidation, threats of violence and paramilitary involvement.”
The Sinn Féin man said the decision “will ensure that future events on our property remove all these negative behaviours, and ensure that event organisers are accountable, operating within the law and providing a safe, respectful event for all”.
Unionists did not respond to requests for comment when contacted.
