Just got back from a seminar where the "Chief Architect" (Civil Servant) Andrew Cunningham was answering (or rather evading questions with stock rhetoric....
So! A Punch and Judy stall counts as a "premises" because a "dramatic role" (a "Play" in other words is being acted out) thus will need a "premises licence" (albeit that under the 1968 Theatres Act . it should already be licensed .. so the Equity Rep should be very grateful that they haven't all already been prosecuted apparently !)! An old bloke recounting dramatic stories from his childhood to an audience in a pub ... will require a licence ... the least you can get away with for raising money through a charitable event in, say, your garden .. will be a Temporary Events notice! (£20).... The DCMS envisage local authorities granting "premises" licenses to all their own open/ public spaces .. so they will have to presumably submit their own operating plans to themselves etc with their own plans for the space. Tbe Rotary Club playing carols and singing for two weeks on the pavement will either have the premises license paid for "willingly" (because they'll be "happy" to do so) by "the relevant shop .. if no shop involved, then they will be "busking" - but my information at least here in Worthing is that "Buskers" get a chitty/ permission slip that costs appx £20 and lasts for 6 months -- so, either way there's a stealth tax on charity - a Temporary Events Notice (TEN) will only be for 3 days (72 hours) .. so anywhere that wants to hold an event for, say, a week will have to apply for a premises license (although they might look at this now .. when it was pointed out how absurd this is!)
Andrew Cunningham brushed aside a point that there is no discernment between accoustic music and amplified .. oh, and any performance in an open hospital ward (we established) where the public could come in will be licensable ....
He stuck to the DCMS line that music can be a source of crime and disorder .... apparently umpteen noisy drunken football fans jumping up and down with no limits on amplification can be dealt with by applying existing conditions on the alcohol (.. so why isn't it?) because it's not the satellitel TV game that's causing the problem but the alcohol .. it all started getting very hazy for me I'm afraid (not enough alcohol) and quoted the Institute of Alcolhol studies .. ignoring my raised point about MCM Research (people started getting excited about this so, he appeared to take the opportunity to convolute the answers)
.. but the reasons for calls for amendments to clarify "grey" area would appear to be still pertinent .... when I asked "who" will be paying for a TEN when pensioners want to have a cream tea and listen to one person play a guitar and at the same raise money for Save the Children (ie charge to entry, thus make a profit) ... well, presumably the charges will have to reflect that there's a 20 quid charge before you start! (Andrew Cunningham threw his hands up and started faffing at this point about not "compelling people to pay" and "no money changing hands" means it won't be licensable .. but as draft guidelines state that raising money for charity is not exempt .. it has to come down to a TEN for a "Twenty"!)
Apparently organisers would be deciding where the point lay between covering costs and making a profit ie., you have an event and make a charge to cover costs (not a profit for charity) (so, not licensable .. I think unless a licensable activity is taking place or the public are admitted), then if it was discovered that you did make a profit (how?) then you would be liable to prosecution (re: £20,000 would be "very unlikely that the courts would fine people this much or indeed send them to prison for a whole 6 months... so, that's reassuring ... not!).
There are complicated points .. I could not get a straight answer to a Samba band procession (most likely as a one-off it would be a TEN) or as a part of a more than three days event someone would have to apply for a "premises" licence (provided it was a fixed spot) .. and apply for a second license from a local authority who already have licensed the premises ie., public space .. so -- don't upset your local authority if you want them to share their "space" with you .. )
For a Morris side .. if they turn up at a pub .. well, it's bound to have a license .. otherwise they would be busking (nobody got a word in here about "spontaneous" ... ) which isn't licenseable (a "pitch" is not a "premises" .. except obviously if you are busking with hand puppets ) .. by this time my eyes were glazing over ....
Hideuous ... hideous .. hideous .. granted that a single licence instead of all the difference licences (for cinemas/ sporting events/ pubs/ club) etc will be welcome .,. but at grass roots rock bottom level (Punch and Judy, event in your back garden it is an appalling degree of extra red tape and expense and potential minefield with criminal prosecution still unaltered for the "organiser" of these events" !
Andrew Cunningham has only ever worked for the Home Office until now that he works at the DCMS .. the Ministry for "Fun" .. his description ..
That's my gut reaction to todays' seminar ....
I'm off to Sidmouth now for a totally "illegal" weekend of organised carousing and playing in pubs all day
1 March @1pm South Street Square opp Guildbourne Centre, Worthing .. "Raising Awareness" of these issues... Hille x