The Stage

LGA admits live music licensing figures were wrong

Published Wednesday 12 August 2009 at 12:10 by Lalayn Baluch

The Local Government Association has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down on claims made by its licensing spokesman, who significantly overstated the levels of live music being staged in pubs and bars across the country.

In a recent article for the LGA’s online magazine, Chris White, chair of the body’s culture, tourism and sport board, claimed that 80% of premises where alcohol is sold were also licensed to host gigs.

However, following a complaint from live music campaigner Hamish Birchall, who claimed the figure was “complete twaddle and highly misleading”, the LGA has removed it from the article and conceded that only 55% of venues hold such a licence.

Music campaigners believe that the Licensing Act 2003, which forces all venues to obtain a licence before hosting live music, has led to a decrease in music provision across the country. They are calling for an exemption for small venues to boost the number of gigs - a proposal that has been opposed by the LGA, which instead supports a new minor variations licensing process.

Birchall is now urging the organisation to review its position on exemptions in light of the mistake.

He explained: “I believe that the 80% error was used to bolster its policy of opposition to new exemptions for small gigs. I want the LGA to publicly acknowledge that was a serious error that persisted for a very long time within the LGA and that it will now review that policy of opposition to exemptions.”

However, an LGA spokesperson denied that the 80% figure had shaped its policy.

A spokesperson said: “It changing makes absolutely no difference. We are still fundamentally involved in working with councils so they understand how incidental music works, to make sure there is good communication between authorities and licensed premises so they understand in what way live music can be staged. There was absolutely no deliberate attempt to deceive anyone. It hasn’t been used in any public documents, it was used in one background briefing, which has turned out to be incorrect. It was no way a basis of the policy, nor has it been publicly used to justify it.”

Meanwhile, the LGA has been forced to publish an apology to trade body UK Music for suggesting it “formed part of a consensus on the licensing of live music” and that it was part of a working party.

The statement clarifies that UK Music believes a revision of the legislation is the only resolution to the “damaging impact” of the act.

A petition on the Downing Street website calling on the government to relax licensing laws for live music has attracted more than 4,000 signatures within two weeks and is ranked at number 28 from a total list of 5,071. For more, see http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/livemusicevents.