To the Chairs of all Community Councils

Dear Chair

AMENDMENT TO CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL’S LICENSING POLICY

As Convener of the Music is Audible Working Group I have been working with Council officials and music sector representatives to develop ideas and proposals that will help to support the live music sector in Edinburgh.

One area we focused on was Edinburgh’s Licensing Policy and you will be aware that the Licensing Board has agreed to consult on a proposal to amend its current licensing policy.

The proposal is to change the following existing wording:

‘The Board will always consider the imposition of a condition requiring amplified music from those premises to be inaudible in residential property’ to

‘Amplified music shall not be an audible nuisance in neighbouring residential premises.’

The criteria to assess whether or not the amplified music is an audible nuisance will be based on the Scottish Government’s guidance which was issued to accompany the statutory nuisance provisions of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008, Part 9 of which amends the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Section 3 of this guidance states ‘There are 8 key issues to consider when evaluating whether a nuisance exists’ and goes on to provide definitions of these issues, which are listed as impact, locality, time, frequency, duration, convention, importance and avoidability.

We believe that this amendment will achieve a fairer balance that we all desire and give the Licensing Standards Officers the tools that will enable them to make a fairer and more balanced judgement.

I would therefore like to make the offer of a presentation from representatives of the Music is Audible group to your community council on the detail of the proposed change and to answer any queries you may have.

If this is of interest please contact me at noma.austinhart@edinburgh.gov.uk and we can arrange a suitable date and time.

In the meantime should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to get in touch.

With best wishes

Councillor Norma Austin Hart

Vice Convener of Culture & Sport

Convener of Music is Audible Working Group.