Following my posting of yesterday, I worked the comments into the draft with other consequential changes. By the end the content was improved, b ut it read dreadfully. So I then undertook a fairly major edit to make it more reader friendly. The following is the result:

REVISED DRAFT TEXT FOR A PROPOSED SECTION IN LOCAL AUTHORITY LICENCING POLICY DOCUMENTS

COUNCIL COMMITTMENT TO FOSTERING PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT

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

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.

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.

END OF DRAFT.

Further comments are requested.

The immediately preceding posting is very welcome and could be very significant. I was aware of the Feargay Sharkey committee, but it had not occurred to me that they might be producing something informal for local autorities along lines similar to those above. I would prefer to give people at least one more chance to comment defore considering whether it is ready and suitable to send to the committee.

Richard