A Call For Clear, Definitive And Quantitative Guidelines With Regards To Noise Regulations.
by Jimmy Mulvihill
8th April 2015
Letter to Political candidates and political parties
On Monday 13th April the following letter will be sent out to major and minor political parties that are standing in the general election this year, as well as local councils, local council candidates and other organisations that have an influence in making legislation that affects the music industry. if you support the cause behind this letter, please contact us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ballystudios, to add your name to the cause, and spread the word of the campaign as far and wide as possible.
Thanks. Bally Studios.
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Dear Sir Madam
We are writing to you to ask for clarification on your policies regarding the need for transparent, consistent and universal rules and regulations towards noise regulations that affect the music industry. We, the undersigned, all work in the music industry, and it is therefore extremely worrying for us to see so many music venues, rehearsal studios and recording studios being subjected to the unfair, unpredictable and inconsistent judgements on whether they can operate in both the short and long term. Much of this comes down to the fact that at present there are no defined regulations on how much noise businesses can make. Instead we have a self-regulating system where local residents are asked to report any noise disturbance to the council with the council then acting upon such reports. The council’s decision will then be made on a subjective basis, and will come down to whether the neighbour is being disturbed – yet ‘being disturbed’ is a term that is extremely vague at best.
In 2013 the music industry created £3.8billion of economic value for the UK economy. (http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6251650/value-of-uk-music-industry-grows-to-ps38-billion) generating the tax revenues to pay for public services at a time when they were sorely needed. The music industry provides employment to people from a wide demographic that transcends age, race, gender, education and many other classifications. There have also been numerous studies that suggest that the participation in music by children has numerous benefits, both socially, emotionally and educationally, helping them to build confidence, create social skills and develop their language based learning through a creative and fun activity, all of which happens on an increasingly slim budget. Much of the success of the 2012 Olympics was launched from the success of the opening ceremony which was heavily focused on the great music that Britain has produced. Thus, I hope that we can all agree that the music industry adds so much to both the quality of life, the culture and the economy of the UK that it justifies any investment to safeguard it.
For these great benefits to continue we need there to be consistency and clarity in the law that means that we can continue to trade with stability, predictability and without worrying if we are going to be closed down at a moments notice. And make no mistake, this is happening on an industrial scale in the UK. In recent years alone establishments in London such as The 12 Bar Club, The Bull & Gate, Infinity, Powers Bar, The Luminaire, The Walthamstow Standard,The Peel, The Flowerpot, The Astoria, Madame Jojo’s, Southern K and The Buffalo Bar have closed their doors. There was a time that there was a Barfly Live Music venue in Sheffield, Cardiff, Brighton, Glasgow, Liverpool, York and in West London – all have now creased trading. Leeds’s Duchess of York, Newport’s TJ’s, The Joiners Arms in Southampton, The Freebutt in Brighton, the 200 Club in Newport, Leicester’s Princess Charlotte, Manchester’s Roadhouse and numerous other music venues have also passed by the wayside in recent years. This is not to even consider the numerous rehearsal studios such as Enterprise, Station Studios, Downs Sounds and Backstreet who have been forced to close too. Many other have had to relocate. Just this week, on 30th March, we learn that Audio Underground in Stoke Newington suffers the same fate, albeit on a temporary basis for evaluation.
We understand that there will come a time when businesses outlive their usefulness, but the vast majority of these establishments were thriving right up until the day that they closed. Yet this did not ensure their survival, and much of this is down to them not being able to invest in their business for fear that they will be closed down before they have a chance to earn that investment back. For any industry to prosper, or even to survive, there needs to be a solid foundation to build from, and at present this is what the music industry is lacking.
The drink drive limit, the classification of recreational drugs and the gambling industry are a few examples of when the government sets out clear and precise limits for what people can and cannot do. Whether you agree with them or not you know what the law is, and as long as you stay within those pre-determined limits you are safe from prosecution. But in the music industry we are unable to plan our future due to only having subjective limits. For example, if I ran a rehearsal studios complex near some residential properties and the residents did not complain about hearing a little bit of noise here and there, I would encounter no problems. But if one person complains, then my business is at threat. The studios could emit 85dB of noise and not get one complaint and stay open, or they could have 81dB of noise, get one complaint and be shut down. There is thus no direct correlation between how much noise is created and the chance of being shut down, and that makes no sense.
Effectively everyday citizens are being asked to interpret and decide what noise levels are acceptable and what are not, and the problem with that is that each person will have a different definition for what is acceptable, which means different businesses operate under different restrictions. The councils are therefore delegating the regulation of such an important matter to it’s people. My business could be shut down due to a single noise complaint, but I am unable to predict whether a noise complaint will be made through genuine concern of being disturbed or due to a desire to rid the neighbourhood of a business which one person may deem “unsightly”. I could be shut down through a neighbour being upset at the actions of one customer. Worse, as the opinion of people can change on a whim depending on their mood, it means that even if there are no complaints from people at the moment, we cannot accurately predict whether we are likely to encounter any noise complaints or not in the future. This lack of certainty causes a huge amount of stress for us, energy that could otherwise be put into more productive activities.
If the government were to issue clear and universal regulations in terms of noise pollution, for example “If a business makes over 80dB of noise it must be at least 50 metres from any residential properties,” or “if a business is within 100 metres of residential property it needs an A1 License. If they are within 50 metres they need an A2 license”, with different licenses allowing for different amounts of noises at different times of day, then we could get the tape measure out, buy a noise decibel reader and have a definite answer as to whether we are complying with the law or not. Distance, volume and times of day are all predictable and clear boundaries, and so by using them as a basis for your decisions we would know where we stand. Knowing that we are complying with the law, we can then invest in our businesses, reassure our staff that their jobs are secure in the long term due to knowing we are within the guidelines and not have to worry about whether we will be asked to cease trading at any time. If we do not comply with them we can either work to improve our standards, or accept that the business is not viable and make alternative plans. Wither way, at least we would know where we stand
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