Music Venues Trust Warn Boris Johnson's Plans Could Place Live Music In Danger
"Hard won protections need to be maintained..."
*Music Venues Trust* warn that *Boris Johnson's* plans could threaten live music infrastructure.
With the country beginning to come out of lockdown, the Prime Minister has unveiled a series of plans dubbed 'project speed'.
Amongst the proposals is the suggestion that developers will be able to demolish and rebuild vacant/redundant commercial buildings, providing that they are re-built as homes.
The sweeping plans seemingly allow a wider range of commercial buildings to switch to house, all done without a full planning application.
Sound familiar? Well, that's essentially the *Permitted Development Right*, which music venues fought to *gain exemption from* less than 18 months ago.
Music Venues Trust are furious, and have issued a damning statement on Boris Johnson's plans. MVT CEO Mark Davyd said:
“This is a replica of the Permitted Development Right which closed hundreds of venues before the government acted to exempt them in 2018. The decision to exempt them was taken after a long campaign supported by, among others, Boris Johnson.”
“We need urgent clarification from the government that they do not intend to change the National Planning Policy Framework and intend to leave the protections for music venues in place.”
UK Music acting CEO Tom Kiehl joined the condemnations, telling MusicWeek: “Hard won protections need to be maintained or ‘build, build, build’ will mean music venues come crashing down.”
It comes as the live music infrastructure across the country is put under colossal pressure, with the Music Venues Trust warning that an immediate cash injection of £50 million is needed to prevent the immediate loss of countless venues.
Related: *Boris Johnon's Coronavirus Fumble Is Crushing Live Music In The UK*
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