London borough launches strong attack on regulated entertainment reforms
A Conservative-led London borough has attacked the government’s proposed relaxation of rules on late night music and entertainment in bars and clubs, warning that the changes “could lead to huge increases in noise nuisance”.
In its response to a Department of Culture, Media and Sport consultation, the London Borough of Wandsworth also predicted that the changes would leave local communities with a much smaller say in what goes on in their area.
The DCMS launched the consultation on deregulating activities classed as "regulated entertainment" under the Licensing Act 2003 in September, with ministers saying the current rules were "a mess".
The proposals would remove – in certain circumstances – the requirement for a licence in England and Wales to host a performance of a play, an exhibition of a film, an indoor sporting event, a performance of live music, any playing of recorded music, or a performance of dance.
However, there would be no relaxation of the rules controlling:
- Any performance of live music, theatre, dance, recorded music, indoor sport or exhibition of film where the audience is of 5,000 people or more
- Boxing and wrestling
- Any performance of dance that may be classed as sexual entertainment, but is exempt from separate sexual entertainment venue regulations
Wandsworth has vowed to “vigorously” oppose the plans. It said:
- Neighbours might only get to know that a noisy event was happening once it started
- Unless the noise was so loud that it constituted a serious statutory nuisance, councils would only be able to take action after the event had finished
- Residents would lose their right to object to a premises playing music late at night or in an outside area
- Councils would lose the ability to place conditions on a licence to prevent a noise problem from happening in the first place
- A club or other entertainment venue could open up without any public safety checks being carried out beforehand
- The new system would mean that all the licensing conditions and restrictions that have previously been placed on venues requiring them to keep noise to a minimum would be removed
- Dealing with noise issues would go from pro-active assessment to reactive enforcement, “with the costs of this enforcement being met by local taxpayers and not by the business creating the problem”.
Cllr Martin D Johnson, Wandsworth’s licensing spokesman, warned of a major impact on noise levels in residential areas.
He said: "The changes could see all controls on licensed entertainment being removed at a stroke. This would mean that all of the borough's nearly 500 pubs and bars being permitted to stage late night events like concerts, dancing and karaoke whenever they liked.
"While many of these would no doubt be run in a responsible manner, councils would have virtually no powers to intervene to prevent badly-run events from causing disturbance to their neighbours.”
Cllr Johnson added that councils would no longer be able to apply conditions that live music was switched off before last orders or that sound limiting devices were fitted to stereo equipment.
"We would also no longer be able to tell a venue to keep all their windows and doors closed after a certain hour and nor could we stop pubs from playing music or karaoke in their beer gardens night after night,” he said.
Cllr Johnson expressed concern that without the need for a licence, other businesses could also begin providing public entertainment "in wholly unsuitable premises".
He said: “These venues would not be subject to proper safety checks with potentially no limits on the numbers of people attending, nor on the hours of operation. This would negate one of the reasons for introducing a licensing regime in the first place which was to prevent tragedies where young people have been injured in fires or as a result of overcrowding or crushing.”
Wandsworth's submission can be read here.
See also: The regulation of entertainment – Ian de Prez on why the government’s proposals could completely change the relationship between licensing authorities, the proprietors of entertainment venues, and residents living near to them.
