Leisure 27 fleurets.com Ed Sheeran began here, before they hit the iconic status they have today, the former having recently completed their Head Full of Dreams tour, reportedly grossing $523 million. The live music scene in the UK is diverse, from small intimate gig venues to large scale arenas, stadia and festivals. Operated by global companies, this is a highly successful and competitive spectrum, but there are areas that need protection. Created in 2014, the Music Venue Trust is a registered charity to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues (GMV). There remains approximately 400 GMV in the UK, but some of the statistics are worrying. In 2007, there were 144 GMV in London, in 2016 there were 94, a 34.7% reduction in trading space. Of the 25 venues that helped launch Oasis’ career in 1993, only twelve remain open. The reasons behind this can be attributed to repair and upkeep, rents and business rates, licensing and redevelopment, where landlords can potentially maximise value from the building. Concerns surrounding this were recently addressed by new planning policy. On 24th July 2018, the Agent of Change principle was introduced as part of the National Planning Policy Framework. This seeks to provide protection to businesses and community facilities from newly granted planning consents. The principle states that existing business and facilities should not have unreasonable restrictions placed on them as a result of development permitted after they were established. The responsibility to protect venues from issues such as licensing, trading hours and noise now lies with the developer. To demonstrate why this was brought in: Bristol, widely recognised as a city championing independent artists has reportedly lost 35% of its venues over the past decade. Planning changes introduced in 2013 that were designed to encourage more residential development by making change of use for buildings easier had the unintended effect of harming live music venues as developers brought forward schemes in traditionally non-residential, locations. Research in 2015 by Bucks New University, supported by UK Music, found 50% of dedicated music venues in Bristol were under threat from development, noise or planning issues. These included well-known venues such as Thekla, The Fleece and Fiddler’s Club. The Agent of Change principle was introduced to protect such venues. With pressures on smaller venues, larger operators encounter issues in securing sites and being able to deliver these. Whilst considering Bristol, one cannot ignore the ongoing saga of Bristol’s long running arena project. Arguments to rectify the fact that Bristol remains one of the only major cities without a purpose built arena have been ongoing since 2003. It appeared a solution was found in 2015, when the city acquired an area of land more recently known as Temple Island, with the intention of building a 12,000 capacity arena. What followed was multi- million pound enabling works to facilitate this. A change of Mayor led to a series of cost reviews calling the project into question, despite the investment and an experienced operator secured for the venue. Following the publication of a Value for Money report by KPMG, the Mayor announced in September that the arena would not be built on Temple Island. In parallel, a privately owned firm entered the debate promoting an arena at Filton Airfield, some five miles from the city centre, which they propose will be privately funded. At the time of writing arguments continue, with new proposals emerging, but in my view not building an arena in the city centre is a missed opportunity. This would have a significant benefit to the surrounding businesses, whereas building an out of town arena threatens to undermine the city centre. One only needs to visit a city such as Cardiff to witness the vibrancy large music venues bring to a city and its economic and cultural scene. The additional benefits are significant, with smaller gigs being held in GMV when major artists visit and the buzz will be lost at an out of town site, lacking connectivity to Bristol’s existing music scene. We have asked industry experts for their views on the UK live music scene:- JOBS LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET No. 11:12:2014 LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREMT LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMETLOR EM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMETLOR EM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMETLOR EM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET L 11 014 28,659 jobs in live music 30.9 million people attended live music events in 2016