Further information from the Lawyers-Performing group indicate a strong intranigence on behalf of the Government - the usual refusal to listen to those actually concerned. Someone thought that Howells was planning more than 100 amendments but no one knows exactly what. Amendments have been drafted by the Lawyers group to extend the 72 hour period of light touch notification to cover the length of a folk festival, and attempts to draft acuoustic exemptions are being made. the government claims that the act is not intended for private functions but the wording of the act indicates otherwise. If you are involved in music as an ancilary to other events, eg historical reenactments, dance troups, etc you will likely become criminalised without the cover of a licence.

This illiberal act really does create an orwellian scene and is of great concern to us all.