Minister targets councils who misuse live music laws

Published Tuesday 27 June 2006 at 15:30 by Nuala Calvi

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.”