Licencing Act
Petition
|
|
Licencing Act
Petition
|
|
For those who haven't seen the recent Morris Ring newsletter - this is a worthwhile petition started by folksinger Dominic Cronin.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/licensing/ (Note: no 'www' in this link)
As well as pubs and clubs, the Licencing Act also applies to scout huts, club pavilions, rehearsal rooms and open spaces (village greens) and similar, irrespective of alcohol being sold. None of this nonsense applies to Scotland.
Libby Purves wrote an article supporting this campaign in The Times 6 Feb 2007.
There are currently over 72,000 signatures as at 1 May 2007 (up from 63,000 at 2 April, 52,000 at 15 March and 36,000 at 6 March), please add yours !! Deadline is 11 June 2007 - help us to get more than 100,000 signatures!!
Here are details of an official petition to 10 Downing Street attempting to secure a review of the Licensing laws, particularly as they affect acoustic music performance. Although the exemption of Morris Dancing (from the need to be licensed) was a very welcome eleventh hour concession when the Licensing Act was passed, many people consider that this law was drafted without proper consideration of the opinions of many likely to be affected by it, and with almost total disregard for these opinions when forceful representations were made both to the Culture Department and to MPs during the passage of the Bill through Parliament.
The present situation in which wide screen televisions in pubs do not require a licence while a single acoustic musician or singer does require licensing is a perversion of justice and testifies to the extent to which the present Government is the patsy of big business, particularly in the entertainment industries.
Changing this law is about the type of country we all want to live in, a country in which many ordinary harmless activities such as making acoustic music do not require any form of regulation from Government (at any level) at all.
Points to remember about the new legislation:
a. The unlicensed provision of even one musician is a potential criminal offence (although some places are exempt, including places of public religious worship, royal palaces and moving vehicles). Max penalty: £20,000 fine and six months in prison.
b. The rationale is to prevent noise, crime and disorder, to ensure public safety, and the protection of children from harm.
c. But broadcast entertainment, including sport and music, is exempt – no matter where, and no matter how powerfully amplified.
d. In the transition to the new regime, bars with jukeboxes, CD players etc were automatically granted a licence to play recorded music; but their automatic entitlement to one or two musicians was abolished.
e. For the first time, private performances raising money for charity are licensable.
f. School performances open to friends and family are licensable – they count as public performances.
g. Under the old regime all premises licensed to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises were automatically allowed up to two live musicians (the 'two in a bar rule').
h. In December, DCMS published research confirming that about 40% of these have lost any automatic entitlement to live music as a result of the new Act: 'Very few establishments that wanted a new licence were denied it, and many who were previously limited to 2-in-a-bar now have the ability to stage music with 2 or more musicians... This contrasts, of course, with the fact that 40% of establishments now have no automatic means of putting on live music (i.e. they would have to give a Tempory Event Notice and cost £21 each and are limited to 12 per year per establishment.
The live music/licensing e-petition currently stands at no.19 in the list of 1,702 petitions on the Number 10 website:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/licensing/ (Note: no 'www' in this link)
The petition is for everyone, not just musicians. Please consider signing if you haven't already done so.
If you have signed, please encourage friends to sign. Deadline is 11 June 2007
