Sian was absolutely right in stressing the importance of establishing working contacts with the Local Authorities. The following is some draft text which has been developed under another thread, which could form the basis of suggestions for inclusion in local policies. I undetook the main editing role so take responsibility for any weaknesses anyone finds and at the same time record my appreciation of the constructive comments received from other mudcatters int he drafting.

COUNCIL COMMITTMENT TO FOSTERING PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT

It is Council policy to encourage opportunities for citizens to enjoy entertainments both as participants and as audience.

The Council affirms its commitment to facilitate the provision of entertainment in as many premises as possible. In furtherance of this objective, it will issue licences with the minimum conditions consistent with supporting the licensing objectives.

In addition the Council will licence all appropriate premises in its control for public entertainment and strongly urges other organisations and individuals controlling any premises suitable for public entertainment to licence them.

Specifically, it draws the attention of those seeking premises licences for the provision of alcohol in public houses, member clubs and, where appropriate, in off-sales and other premises to the fact that that the licence fee for premises selling alcohol is not increased by the inclusion of entertainment licensing provided the requests are made concurrently.

The Council draws attention to the fact that there are many circumstances in which entertainment is permitted without the need for a premises licence covering entertainment. It is the essential characteristic of all licensable entertainment that there must be:

       Explicit provision of the entertainment either by one or more individuals or by the replay of recorded entertainment

       There must be an audience in which the main reason for the presence of the majority of the audience members is their desire to be entertained (as opposed to any other reason, such as their being present in a pub primarily to have a drink).

If either of these conditions is not satisfied then the entertainment does not require a licence, consequently most entertainment in a pub bar does not need an entertainments licence.


The Council also draws attention to the fact that Morris Dancing and similar entertainments are exempted from the need for licencing by the Act. The Council considers the following to be similar entertainments for this purpose:

      Long Sword Dancing
      Rapper Sword Dancing
      Traditional Clog Dancing
      Mummers Plays
      Mediaeval Mystery Plays
      Wassailing
      Similar performances arising from non-English national    traditions
      (Here the local authority should list any local similar traditions specific to the Local
       Authority Area)

Anyone intending to promote an entertainment which is not in the above list but which they consider to be comparable to those in the list should consult the Council with a suggestion that it is exempt and hence no licence is required. Any instances that are exempted in this way will be proposed by the Council to become additions to the above list at the next formal review.

COUNCIL COMMITTMENT TO MINIMAL LICENCING CONDITIONS

The Council accepts that most acoustic music is consistent with the licensing objectives. Consequently, any applications exclusively for acoustic music will normally be approved with very few conditions. These will normally be restricted to such of those conditions listed as examples by the DCMS guidance which are applicable to the particular premises taking its location into consideration. The relevant conditions within the guidance are:

       No entertainment in gardens after 10:00pm
       Windows to be closed after 11:00pm
       Freedom of passage to exits
       Proper maintenance and operation of any emergency lighting system that is already installed.

It should be noted in particular that the first two would not apply at all in the case of very isolated premises and the times themselves are flexible depending on the location. It is stressed that it is not appropriate for a licensing condition to require any alteration to the premises.

As stressed above, where the entertainment requires a licence, the Council is committed to the application of the minimum possible conditions consistent with supporting the licensing objectives. However, there will be cases where the nature of the entertainment makes additional licence conditions necessary. To assist premises and event organisers to assess whether it is necessary to consider additional licence conditions and to minimise the number of unnecessary applications for more restricted licences, the Council asserts that an acoustic performance comprising a few performers with an audience of up to 100 joining in choruses would be consistent with the minimal level of licensing conditions in most premises.

Premises operators should assess whether the entertainment within their premises will be consistent with the volumes typified by the above indication. If they consider that this may not be so, they should indicate whether they wish to make provision for louder entertainment. In the latter case they should include a description of the intended entertainment that is to be covered so that neighbours can make any pertinent comments.

In the case of premises which are equipped with a system which enables the power to amplifiers to be cut off if a particular noise level is reached; the premises operator should include a draft condition within the application which requires the equipment to be used for all amplified music and should state the noise level at which it is intended that power to the amplifier will be cut off.

Just as premises operators have to decide whether they will require entertainment to be contained within the guidelines so that it will be covered by the existing premises licence an event organiser will have to decide whether to contain the entertainment or to apply for a separate licence with extended guidelines.

I hope that some of you will find this helpful

Richard