Thank you so much but still keep signing. The more people that sign it the stronger our argument in the council chamber.

This is a petition calling for Brighton & Hove City Council to fully and transparently review its procedures and protocols in respect of noise abatement notices served on live music venues across the city.  

IN A NUTSHELL…

A legal loophole exists allowing someone to move close to, next to and even into the same building as a long established music venue and then demand the noise is silenced forcing the council to act. In the city of Brighton & Hove (and across the whole country) venues have been almost systematically closed down through this piece of legislation. This is our cultural heritage we are losing and needs protecting with as much endeavour as historic buildings, twee streets and Battersea chimneys.

Mark Stack is a local music promoter in the city of Brighton and Hove. On Thursday 26th March 2015 he will be addressing the full council meeting at Brighton Town Hall to persuade the councillors to do more to protect the city’s live music venues. He is aiming to make this the most remembered petition/deputation the city’s councillors have ever seen (and that’s without any naff publicity stunts or overt controversy). He has also identified something within the legislation which potentially indicates that the council has been applying the Act incorrectly and subsequently venues should not be served Notice in certain circumstances. He will be explaining this at the meeting.

Mark will have five minutes to address the full meeting of all the city’s councillors, to which a single person from the council will reply. However, if we can get 1250 people to sign this petition the councillors will be obliged to fully debate the petition there and then. This will be the last meeting before all B&H councillors face re-election in May and their comments will be freshly noted by the voters.

Please share this page on social media to gain maximum take up.

 

IN MORE DEPTH…

The aim of the petition is to put Brighton’s music scene on the political agenda in this council election year. In 1990 the Environmental Protection Act became law. Primarily to control toxic emissions into the environment, it also included measures to deal with litter-louts, animal welfare, and noise abatement. Clearly this piece of legislation is designed to protect residents from unruly neighbours and also extreme noise from industry. I can’t believe it was intentionally worded to destroy our cultural heritage.

Unfortunately a legal loophole exists where a person can move into a dwelling near a pub or music venue (or even a bell-ringing church for that matter) and demand that the noise is stopped. This petition is to redress the balance created by this loophole.

When the council served a noise notice on the long-standing music venue 'The Blind Tiger Club' in Brighton it hit the national headlines and went viral on social media. The notice was in response to a complaint by someone who moved into the flat above it.
The number of people leaping to the defence of the Blind Tiger was astounding and caught out our local politicians. In just a few days a petition to save it reached over 13,000 and eventually tallied at over 15,000; showing the passion and will of the city’s music lovers across the city. MPs and councillors claimed to be unaware of the case and would look into it, but nothing really happened and the venue closed. Ironically squatters then moved in, trashed the place completely and made more noise and nuisance than the club did in the first place.

Other city venues have suffered the same fate including The Freebutt, Ouch! Bar and CuBar.

This petition is not asking for a noise-makers charter, it’s asking for balance. It is totally inappropriate for a small backstreet pub to be hosting 105db music nights until the early hours every week. It is equally inappropriate to move next to a longstanding venue that plays live music, whether acoustic or full electric, and then make demands to have it silenced. This petition is asking for this issue to be discussed rationally and seriously considered by councillors, council committees and the council staff who apply notices; in conjunction with the wider city’s residents, businesses and employees.

Our petition is completely non-party political because it is not a party political issue, just clear common sense. It won’t even be a hostile presentation. Mark aims to convince councillors of the need to put procedures and protocols in place that not only protect the small venues and pubs across the city but help them grow. This in turn makes Brighton & Hove, this wonderful place to visit, live or work in; even more of an asset and also a greater tourist proposition to the city as a whole. Win-win-win for everyone.

That said, each individual councillor will be asked to publicly state where they stand on the matter in this council election year. There are a lot of musicians and a lot of local music lovers in every ward and they would like to know where their prospective councillors stand before voting. [At the last B&H council election in 2011 less than 200 votes made the difference as to whether someone was elected or not in the majority of wards; with only 40 votes making the difference in one ward. That means changing the voting intentions of 20-100 people can make a difference on who is elected in each ward]

It will be great to see as many people there as possible in the public gallery showing your support on the day. Please also join this Facebook event, [https://www.facebook.com/events/1542366856019343/1543028645953164] to register your support for what we are trying to achieve.

This is a starting point, encouraging others in other towns, cities and boroughs across the country to form their own delegations to their own council meetings to bring a national change. We don’t need to be hostile about this, let’s use reason (and the need for votes) to persuade the politicians that this loophole in the law needs to be closed. Let’s remove the ability for somebody to move close to an established music playing venue and have it closed down.