· Councils' role is to balance the needs of the whole local community, including local businesses and local residents. Opposing this exemption is not about saying "no" to live music. Councils want to be able to say "yes", confident that local people have been considered as part of the process.

The LGA Group's opposition to this proposal is certainly not the only area where musicians feel implacably opposed by this lobby. The many people who appreciate live music are also part of the whole local community and musicians are also local businesses but it would be fair to say that they do not feel that the LGA Group include them in any balanced process and do not detect much indication of the LGA Group wanting to say yes to live music. The LGA Group may say yes to being able to regulate live music.

The report of the Welwyn Hatfield Live Music Forum, July 2009 shows that even where this Council would be seen to have said yes to live music, this is not the whole story and covers up a whole list of questionable licensing conditions. It could well prove to be that as much damage and limitation is being done to the live music that is licensed, as it is to the live music being prevented, damaged and limited for lack of a licence. The LGA Group proudly refers to being subject to the 'democratically accountable licensing regime' - perhaps it can establish in Welwyn Hatfield, exactly how democratic and accountable this regime really is in practice.