MP urges Government to protect live music venues from new neighbours' complaints
Housebuilders should face having their plans blocked if they fail to protect live music venues, an MP has suggested.
Dame Caroline Dinenage has proposed letting decision-makers take into account existing properties, when they grant or refuse permission for new projects.
The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman warned that 'live music's in crisis, the Government needs to be listening' as she proposed a new clause to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Dame Caroline, the Conservative MP for Gosport, told the Commons: 'It isn't about venues versus developers.
'It's about making sure we have a balance right between building enough good homes and making sure the places we're building keep the things that make life worth living.
'In Westminster and our constituencies, everyone agrees that our high streets have been in decline, so it's vitally important that we protect the places that are special to us, our constituents and our communities, the places that provide a platform for our creators and our world-beating creative industries where we can make memories, celebrate and have fun.'
Dame Caroline called on the Government to let town halls and ministers rule on plans 'subject to such conditions that would promote the integration of the proposed development of land with any existing use of land, including such conditions as may be necessary to mitigate the impact of noise on the proposed development'.
A similar principle already exists in national planning rules, known as the National Planning Policy Framework, to ease pressure on existing businesses which 'should not have unreasonable restrictions placed on them as a result' of newer builds.
But the Music Venue Trust's annual report last year warned that, in 2023, 22.4% of venues closed as a result of 'operational issues', compared with 42.1% of its members reporting 'financial issues'.
The Trust identified noise abatement orders or other neighbour disputes as being among the issues which have resulted in permanent closures.
'Consistent application of the 'agent of change' principles will de-risk and speed up planning and development,' Dame Caroline told MPs, and added that her proposal was 'good for venues' and 'good for developers and new neighbours'.
She said the law change could help authorities stop 'expensive and often pointless bun fights' when neighbours complain about noise.
She continued: 'It'll make sure the needs of an existing cultural venue are considered from the start and it will save developers from late-stage objections and lengthy expensive legal disputes down the line.'
Dame Caroline said music venues 'are the foundation of our world-beating creative industries and also very important for our local communities', and that they had been placed 'under threat, including from our disruptive planning system and our onerous licensing regime'.
The Commons select committee recommended last year that the 'agent of change' principle should be put on a statutory footing, to protect grassroots music venues.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Court documents: Trump administration calls for dismissal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Maryland case
GREENBELT, Md. () — The Trump administration filed a motion in Maryland's District Court on Tuesday, re-emphasizing its call for the dismissal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case against them. This comes less than a week after Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., having spent months of imprisonment in a Salvadorian facility. The Maryland husband and father now faces criminal charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. Lawyers have been petitioning for his return since his erroneous deportation to El Salvador back in March, with administration officials fighting state and Supreme Court orders directing the government to facilitate his return. RELATED COVERAGE: Kilmar Abrego Garcia accused of years-long conspiracy transporting undocumented aliens to the US In the latest move filed by the defendants in Greenbelt, Md., the government is calling for a stay of all case deadlines and the eventual dismissal of the case against them. Lawyers defending the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially filed a motion last week, arguing in a one-page notice that since Abrego Garcia has been returned to the U.S., the preliminary injunction should be dissolved. Abrego Garcia's team opposed this request for a stay, that the goverment arranged for Abrego Garcia's return — 'not to Maryland in compliance with the Supreme Court's directive' — but rather to Tennesee 'so that he could be charged with a crime in a case that the Government only developed while it was under threat of sanctions,' court documents read. 'Instead of facilitating Abrego Garcia's return, for the past two months Defendants have engaged in an elaborate, all-of-government effort to defy court orders, deny due process, and disparage Abrego Garcia,' his lawyers stated. His lawyers called the government's efforts 'chilling.' 'Two things are now crystal clear,' court documents state. 'First, the Government has always had the ability to return Abrego Garcia, but it has simply refused to do so.' 'Second, the Government has conducted a determined stalling campaign to stave off contempt sanctions long enough to concoct a politically face-saving exit from its own predicament,' they continued. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Abrego Garcia to return to US to face charges His team claimed the Trump administration has hidden behind 'questionable assertions' of government privileges and deliberately dragged their feet on discovery, stonewalling Abrego Garcia and the Court's efforts to 'get at the truth.' Even if his return to the U.S. resolved every claim made, the Maryland court still retains jurisdiction to find contempt and impose sanctions against the government, they argued. 093114932274Download In a , DHS lawyers re-emphasized their request for a stay of all case deadlines. Since being ordered on April 4 to 'facilitate … the return of Plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States,' the administration said it has 'made diligent efforts to pull down domestic barriers preventing Abrego Garcia from entering our country.' This included 'appropriate diplomatic discussions' with Salvadorian officials to facilitate his release and return to the U.S., the government's attorneys argued in court documents. They called Abrego Garcia's team's response to his return to the U.S. and their fight to keep the Maryland case open 'desperate and disappointing.' INITIAL COVERAGE: Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador due to 'administrative error,' court filings say 'In the face of Abrego Garcia's return to the United States, they baselessly accuse Defendants of 'foot-dragging' and 'intentionally disregard[ing] this Court's and the Supreme Court's orders,' when just the opposite is true,' court documents read. The administration accused the plaintiffs of trying to 'stoke this [Maryland] Court's anger against' them, claiming there was no legal basis for their accusations and arguments. '[T]he proof is in the pudding—Defendants have returned Abrego Garcia to the United States just as they were ordered to do. None of Plaintiffs' hyperbolic arguments change that or justify further proceedings in this matter,' the attorneys for the defendants wrote. The lawyers said they intend to file their motion for dismissal on mootness grounds by June 16. 093114938071-1Download In a statement shared with DC News Now after the government's filing on Tuesday, Abrego Garcia's attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg wrote: Two months ago, the Supreme Court ordered not just that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be released from custody in El Salvador and brought back to the United States, but furthermore that his case be handled 'as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.' That hasn't happened yet, and so there's still work to be done in this case. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
RBNZ Says Adrian Orr Resigned Due to Disagreement Over Funding
New Zealand's central bank said former governor Adrian Orr resigned over government cuts to the bank's funding. Responding to Official Information Act requests from Bloomberg News and other media, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday released a raft of documents pertaining to Orr's unexpected resignation on March 5.

Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Washington Post
Trump says governors should be able to handle disasters without FEMA
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration plans to 'wean' states off of Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance after this year's hurricane season, offering in the most explicit terms yet his plans for states to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies on their own. 'We're moving it back to the states, so the governors can handle. That's why they're governors,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'If they can't handle it, they shouldn't be governor.'