AAA White Paper The political economy of informal events, 2030 | Page 111

An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice
Bob Dylan, Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Mem-
phis Blues Again, 1966
111
Bob Dylan on…
not going through
all these things twice
As we've seen with noise pollution and at IT, acoustics are likely
to become a major issue with informal events. Now today, many of
London’s parks, a maximum sound level of 75dB is deemed acceptable
if it is linked to a Noise Management Plan as reviewed by the local
SAG. But otherwise noise restrictions are often made only on a very
subjective basis; and, when specially defined as a nuisance, noise can
too simply be made into an onerous licensing condition.
3. It’s too easy to game the system and increase resistance and
delay to informal events. Legislation, as everyone knows, can have
unintended consequences. Licensing is no exception to this rule.
Different interests can manipulate it.
During their lengthy wait for a court hearing that can cost them
a great deal in legal fees, some event organisers can behave like
saints in their local community – only, sadly, to turn into anti-social
sinners the moment the hearing decides to give them the go-ahead.
Yet it is probably truer to say that it is ward councillors who are
better at gaming the licensing system. Too often, some don’t so much
respond democratically to genuine local grievances as pander, in the
hopes of re-election, to the prejudices of a few vociferous residents.
Events held annually also confirm the need for reform of the
Licensing Act. With them, a time-limited Premises Licence, which
permits an event to be held at the same spot each year, broadly
obviates the need for repeating an application annually. However,
informal events often have to endure extra conditions being imposed
– conditions that can, in certain circumstances, require them to go
through the whole licensing procedure all over again, each year.
Of course, most systems in life can be gamed. But as currently
formulated, the 2003 Licensing Act too often allows event
organisers to be done down by the recalcitrant. Reform is needed.
Reform of the Act is needed for another, still more important
reason. The right to free expression and the right to free assembly
are, after all, the indivisible foundations of democracy. Yet in
the years to 2030, these rights could well come under challenge,
in part by official recourse to the more ambiguous, opaque and
manipulable features of the Act.
Every events professional and enthusiast should resist that
challenge. Indeed, because the freedoms to express oneself and to
assemble with other people are universal,
everyone who has ever been to an event – in
short, everyone – has a duty to uphold them.