'Live music always acts as a magnet in whatever community it is being played. It brings people from outside that community and having no connection locally behave in a way that is inappropriate, criminal and disorderly'.
Chris Fox, President, Association of Chief Police Officers: letter to Tessa Jowell, DCMS, 2 July 2003

See below for the full unedited text of the letter from Chris Fox setting out ACPO's justification for rejecting the small premises exemption and supporting the Government small premises conditions concession. The letter was immediately circulated by the DCMS to all Peers in advance of the 3rd July Lords' debate where the small events exemption was finally lost:

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Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland
25 Victoria Street, London SW1X OEX. Tel: (020) 7227 3434. Fax (020) 7227 3400/1.


                                                                                        2nd July 2003

Dear Tessa

Licensing Bill / Live Music / Crime and disorder

I write on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers to support the government amendment relating to premises of a capacity of less than 200 and the performance of live music thereon.

My Association was concerned that there was to be a live music exemption for small premises and this would seem to present policing with specific problems. Exempting premises from licences produce the following difficulties:

By exempting premises we cause an anomaly whereby problems caused at such a venue result in limited action because of restricted police powers. The premises continue to be used in such a way. A licensed premise however would find itself subject to the extended police powers and referred back to the Licensing Authority possibly to be stopped from this type of activity. This seems both illogical and wrong.

If an amendment is accepted which exempts any form of live music then we have the rather bizarre comparison between a heavy metal band using huge amplification and a single pianist or folk guitarist. The differences in such events extend not only to the level of noise but to the types of clientele, their social patterns and movement plus the differing impact on crime and disorder in a locality.

The Licensing Bill has been developed after considerable consultation with many stakeholders. My Association believes that it strikes a balance between less regulation providing freedom of choice for both businesses and consumer and the necessary safe guards to ensure the protection of the public and to enable local action to prevent crime and disorder.

I would wish to reiterate the reasons that my Association believes that the licensing of premises is an important step to the control of criminal and disorderly behaviour.

It is important to maintain a licensing regime, which is not punitive in nature for smaller community events. However from a policing standpoint to allow such events to take place anywhere with no requirement to notify either responsible authorities or those living or working in the vicinity seems to be a complete disregard to the community, its safety and the types of crime and disorder within it.

Police powers of closure under the current Bill (and legislation as it currently stands) only apply to those premises which do have a licence. If the public expectation is that the police are to control crime and disorder in a community then the powers surrounding the licences of premises should be available to the local police commander to use.

We understand the legitimate interests and concerns of the other stakeholders. However, we believe that the amendment that restricts the conditions that can be imposed on live music in premises with a capacity limit of less than 200 to "public safety and disorder" meets the policing requirement. It will still allow us to respond to problems of crime and disorder in a community yet still allow small events and live music to prosper. Furthermore, provision of unamplified music rarely gives rise to policing concerns.

To further the interests of genuinely low level activity - for example, traditional folk music - the Association could lend its support to amendments that suspend all licence conditions on unamplified music in small pubs. This support is conditional on there being effective review procedures in place so that the police could take action against a small proportion of venue operators who might exploit such liberalisation.

Many other events are used to attract custom to licensed premises be they widescreen television, pool competitions, quiz nights or themed food evenings. Often there are various venues with similar events thus diluting their impact whereas live amplified music can generate a leisure magnet even in smaller venues.

Live music always acts as a magnet in whatever community it is being played. It brings people from outside that community and having no connection locally behave in a way that is inappropriate, criminal and disorderly. The public expect the police to be able to deal with these incidents and the powers as outlined would seem to be a sensible way to do just that.

Yours sincerely
Chris Fox
President

Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell
Secretary of State
Culture, Media and Sport