Licensing - Top cop's horror
The following from Hamish Birchall http://www.livemusicforum.co.uk/
"It fills me with absolute horror. I guarantee if this does come in, it
would be changed within a couple of years."
So said Chief Inspector Adrian Studd of the Metropolitan police, reacting
earlier this week to a proposed entertainment licensing exemption for live
music in venues up to 200-capacity. His comments, made at the Music Tank
licensing seminar last Tuesday in response to the exemption in Lord
Clement-Jones' live music bill, are quoted in yesterday's Morning
Advertiser: http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/84722
According to this report, the police fear that such an exemption would lead
to violence.
A Guardian blogger who attended the Music Tank event also quotes Studd on
the exemption: 'If we set a number like that, all venues would claim they
have a 199 capacity. And if we exempted jazz, everyone would call themselves
jazz musicians."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/oct/15/small-venues-struggle-live-music
CI Studd's depressing remarks call to mind a notorious police statement of
2003. This was invoked by the government in Parliamentary debate on 3rd July
2003 as justification for their opposition to a similar small gig exemption
proposed by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers:
'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.'
[letter dated 2nd July 2003 to Tessa Jowell from Chris Fox, then president
of the Association of Chief Police Officers]
Although the police later backtracked slightly from this ludicrous
generalisation, it seems that live music still terrifies them, but for no
clear reason.
In fact there is no evidence of any significant link between small live gigs
and serious violence. To the best of my knowledge, the Home Office does not
even bother to keep statistics on violent crime at or near live music
venues.
Moreover, the bars and restaurants where Lord Clement-Jones' 200-capacity
exemption would apply are those already licensed for the sale of alcohol
under the Licensing Act 2003, and therefore subject to statutory police and
local authority powers of intervention, review, and possible closure, if
there is any serious trouble. All workplaces have a statutory duty under
separate safety legislation to make risk assessments for all activities
taking place, including live music. This includes fire risk assessments,
agreed with the local fire service, which effectively determine a safe
capacity for all workplaces. Lord Clement-Jones' exemption is also narrowly
defined, applying solely to live music, not recorded music or dancing.
Nightclubs would not qualify. The other venues where the exemption would
apply are hospitals, schools and care homes - not usually associated with
serious violent crime.
But it is not only the police who seem unable to shake an irrational fear of
live music. The Local Government Association is gripped by the same phobia,
and is gearing up to fight any possible relaxation of criminal law sanctions
for live gigs, even by one unamplified musician in a bar. On 14th October,
Chris White, chair of the LGA Culture Committee, announced:
'... The [LGA Culture] Board agreed that de minimis exemptions for live
music based on crowd size only are not acceptable, as crowd size is not a
viable means of determining whether or not a particular performance of live
music will contravene one of the licensing act objectives. '
http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=877315
His statement hypes up the LGA collaboration with Musicians Union in
promoting the new 'minor variations' process and 'leaflets' for local
authorities and licensees clarifying the 'incidental music' exemption. But
the £89 application is only of potential benefit to premises that already
have a premises licence under the Act. It offers no help whatever to places
like hospitals or schools that are, typically, unlicensed. It is also
something of a gamble in that it will be refused if a licensing officer
believes there might be a noise complaint.
Councillor White is based in St Albans, the town where campaigners recently
uncovered scores of council conditions on live music in pubs and bars
restricting the number of musicians and even genres of music:
http://www.musictank.co.uk/reports/licensing-act-2003-case-study-st-albans-district-council
St Albans council denied responsibility for these conditions, arguing that
they were 'volunteered' by licensees. But this usually happens when
licensees know that their application is likely to be refused, or otherwise
made difficult.
Despite repeated requests, the LGA has never answered these simple
questions: 'What risks from a small gig in bar or restaurant cannot be
addressed by existing legislation, irrespective of entertainment
licensing?'; and 'In what way is existing noise and safety legislation
inadequate to regulate a small gig in a bar or restaurant?'
Separate legislation is, of course, deemed perfectly adequate by the
government to regulate crowds watching a big match on widescreen tv in a pub
or indeed anywhere. That entertainment is already exempt from entertainment
licensing.
It is hoped that Lord Clement-Jones' live music bill will be re-presented to
Parliament after the Queen's Speech:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldbills/066/2009066.pdf
ENDS
date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:12:50 +0100
author: Roger Gall
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