The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #86679 Message #1784105
Posted By: DMcG
15-Jul-06 - 06:08 AM
Thread Name: Affected by The Licensing Act 2003
Subject: RE: Affected by The Licensing Act 2003
A letter and an article from "The Stage" dated 13 July 2006. This a specialist newspaper aimed at actors, professional musicians and other people connected with the theatre.
Your article (June 29, page 2) on Shaun Woodward's warning to heavy handed councils prompts me to tell you about the crazy antics of Scarborough Borough Council and the Whitby Harbour Masters Office.
It all started with the decision that the traditional bandstand on the pier, just past the amusement arcades at Scotch Head, needed to be licensed for music. There was an objector. It was only licensed after practically giving the Harbour Master's Office carte blanche to say what could go on in the way of music and what could not, along the whole of Whitby harbour side. This means that the Harbour Master is moving buskers away from pitches they have traditionally used for many years. The odd group that is amplified may not be popular with some of the locals but the buskers are popular with tourists who appreciate that they contribute to the colour that has recently given the resort such high ratings in media awards.
Whitby is a top venue for music and arts festivals and its success as such is being threatened by the jackboot of bureaucracy described above. Additionally, a planning application by the organisers of Whitby Musicport, a successful World Music Festival, to convert the old Quaker Meeting House into an arts centre has been refused by Scarborough Borough Council, forcing Musicport to consider pulling out of Whitby. At the same planning meeting permission was given for yet another nightclub in the town centre which will not be hosting live music.
Article continues
Clearly, the way the Licensing Act is being applied by Scarborough Borough Council in respect of Whitby is oppressive.
Tony Morris,
South View
Whitby
North Yorkshire
Music minister Shaun Woodward has called on councils to avoid using the Licensing Act to impose heavy handed conditions which discourage venues from hosting live entertainment.
New guidelines to the act call on local authorities to consult local musicians and owners regularly. If they find the local music scene is suffering as a result of their interpretation of the act, then they must rethink their licensing policies.
Woodward said: "Live venues are the heart of many communities. That's why we gave them greater opportunities to put on live entertainment, such as music and dancing, under the licensing laws.
"But we need to make sure local councils are promoting these opportunities and venue owners are taking advantage of them."
The advice comes on the back of claims by campaigners and the pub industry that some councils are exceeding their powers under the act and imposing conditions which are discouraging people from applying for live entertainment permits.
Results of a recent survey by the Musician's Union reveal that, while business in larger venues has continued much as usual, there has been a "marked drop" in live music in smaller venues, particularly those which previously benefited from the old 'two in a bar' rule allowing up to two people to perform without a licence.
In April Westminster City Council imposed 39 conditions on The Hub, a new restaurant in Regents Park, before allowing it to host live music, even though it is half a kilometre from the nearest house and the performance area is underground. They included installing a noise limiter and CCTV systems and having no more than three musicians at any one time.
The decision prompted leading trumpeter Henry Lowther to write to the MU saying he feared the act was making it harder for venues to put on music.
Lowther said: "If every applicant has to comply with such conditions along with the cost of the licence itself, one could say that that is not exactly an incentive to small premises to present live music."