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\n Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling on Birmingham City Council to reverse its ‘divisive’ busking crackdown.\n <\/p>\n
The council has controversially introduced a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in a bid to tackle \u2018excessive noise levels\u2019 in certain city centre streets.<\/p>\n
A ban on using amplification equipment, musical instruments or other items used as instruments will apply in the streets covered. The plans were given the green light and came into effect this summer, with the council saying the noise issue was impacting businesses; residents trying to relax at home and landlords attempting to let properties.<\/p>\n
But the proposals also sparked fears for the city\u2019s cultural scene, as well as warnings that Birmingham risked becoming the country\u2019s \u201cleast friendly city\u201d for street performances if they went ahead unchanged.<\/p>\n
An online petition, which slammed the council\u2019s busking crackdown, has now been signed more than 700 times as of Wednesday afternoon, August 27. It was also shared on Instagram by The Libertines legend Pete Doherty, who grew up in the Midlands.<\/p>\n
Black Country duo GANS, who launched the petition, said: \u201cConsidering that the city council has already completely defunded arts and consistently shows hostility towards any form of culture in the city, this draconian measure is increasingly making the second city a cultural wasteland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is bigger than just the silence that the city will feel without music and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic is an integral part of a city\u2019s culture and artists bring vibrancy and inspiration to the streets,\u201d one person who signed the petition wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s sad that in a society where this positive energy is needed now more than ever that this platform is cruelly being taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love going to other cities and listening to local talent,\u201d another person added on Instagram. \u201cBirmingham people should not be deprived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the best things about going to Brum is the beautiful and varied talent you find when you have a wander about,\u201d a second argued.<\/p>\n
Lyle Bignon, Night Time Economy Ambassador for Birmingham, also urged music fans and professionals to \u201cplease get behind this petition\u201d.<\/p>\n
The PSPO will focus on noise associated with busking, street entertaining, street preaching and public speaking affecting people living in the area and businesses.<\/p>\n
Areas covered by the order include Victoria Square, New Street, Temple Street, Cannon Street, Needless Alley and part of Waterloo Street. Labour cabinet members backed the plans at a council meeting last month, with Cllr Nicky Brennan saying: \u201cI\u2019m sure we\u2019re all familiar with examples of walking through town when the noise levels are too loud.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we must remember for some residents who may have sensory sensitivities, this can cause increased anxiety, stress and mental fatigue.\u201d Several businesses also backed the PSPO, with some describing how city centre busking was taking a toll on workers and driving away customers.<\/p>\n
One shop worker claimed \u201cprolonged exposure\u201d to noise from a busker had led to headaches and stress among staff. \u201cOur mental health is suffering immensely due to the constant noise pollution,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe believe that busking \u2013 when well-managed \u2013 can enhance a city\u2019s cultural appeal and vibrancy,\u201d another said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, what is currently happening in Birmingham is not structured or regulated busking \u2013 it is, frankly, a free-for-all.\u201d<\/p>\n
A number of buskers have argued that compromises could be reached with one suggesting the council adopt a model similar to that of Busk in London with respect to basic licensing. But the council\u2019s director of regulation and enforcement Sajeela Naseer said previously that London had a \u201cspecific piece of legislation which enables it to have a licensing scheme\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no quick and easy answer to these issues,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to balance the rights of residents and businesses against those who wish to make music and other amplified noise in the city centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe council is not considering introducing this PSPO without reason,\u201d a spokesperson for the authority added earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have received a significant and consistent number of complaints from both residents and businesses that there are too many people causing noise in the street and despite being asked to moderate their noise levels, there has been no respite for the affected people.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also said that enforcement arrangements had failed to deal with noise levels in streets outside of two previous orders and that it had received statements in support of declaring a \u201cnew, wider PSPO\u201d from businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling on Birmingham City Council to reverse its ‘divisive’ busking crackdown.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[22440,22441,855,9163,22439,748,9444,1354,393,9453,4884,14987,269,12,3669,9440,93,16823,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-378266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-102-5","9":"tag-102-5-fm","10":"tag-birmingham","11":"tag-black-country","12":"tag-brierley-hill","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-dab","15":"tag-dudley","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-fm","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-halesowen","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-online","23":"tag-radio","24":"tag-sport","25":"tag-stourbridge","26":"tag-uk","27":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115102101556540403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}