I have a plan in for a 90 seater ground floor restaurant with an enclosed kitchen with fairly large openings such that a fire would be obvious to patrons. Two MOE one at the opposite end to the kitchen and one which is accessed by passing by one of the openings. BC have rejected plan on the basis of the route passing the opening. TD is well within limits. On the principle that a fire will be in one place only, I see no issue. Would appreciate comments.

A verbal description is not sufficient to give a definitive response, I think you need to provide a diagram but what I can say is if the means of escape, that passes to openings from the kitchen, is a dead end, then I would consider it nor satisfactory.

Tom, thanks for the reply. I am confident in my own interpretation of the technical side but I posted more out of frustration with BC than anything else. I know they are swamped in this city and they seem to be seeking any reason to reject an application to avoid increasing workload for officers. 
This is a poor state of affairs as projects are delayed unnecessarily while the issues are addressed through the system treacle. BC is Council only here in NI, unlike mainland U.K.