Adopt the Agent of Change Principle for Live Music Venues at a Local Level

Grassroots live music venues are an important aspect of our city's culture. We need to convince the council and its relevant departments to adopt the Agent of Change Principle for Live Music Venues, in order to afford these places protection from the noise complaints that frequently threaten their existence. The UK as a whole has lost some 40% of it's grassroots music venues in the past decade alone. Where someone builds a brand new venue, from scratch, or suddenly starts holding gigs, then any noise complaints are entirely foreseeable, and it should be the operators responsibility to soundproof their premises. Where any new residential accommodation is built in the vicinity of an existing venue, then the developer should be forced to install sufficient soundproofing, and to remedy this should it ever prove insufficient. Existing buildings, which have showcased live music for many years, should be designated as music venues, and afforded a degree of protection. If a significant noise issue arises, then provided the operator can demonstrate that they have taken every reasonable step to remedy and limit the nuisance, the venue should be given cultural dispensation, and the affected resident(s) perhaps offered a grant to add additional soundproofing to their propertie(s). Where the 30dBA threshold could not ultimately be achieved then a pragmatic solution must be found to keep the venue open. While there is a movement to adopt the Agent of Change Principle at both Scottish and UK level, this may come too late (if ever) for some of the city's venues. Furthermore Agent of Change is something that the city council can choose to implement at a local level. Please be referred to the following link for addition information: http://musicvenuetrust.com/2014/09/what-is-agent-of-change-and-why-is-it-important/