Petition To Stop Noise Complaints In Areas Known For Nightlife

There's a petition currently on the government's E-petition website that is seeking to bring some intelligence to the conflict between residential living and night time economy. The narrative has been repeated so often it's tired; first an urban location is neglected, then club & night spot owners are attracted by cheap rent and the lack of resident to complain about noise. They bring life to the area, the area becomes desirable, the rents go up, and finally landlords and dickheads buy up property attracted by the 'edgy buzz' then instantly start complaining about the night life 'noise pollution' that drove the areas revitalization in the first place. Councils capitulate and scenes are eroded then destroyed. The local economy suffers, jobs are lost, and another blow is landed to the country's cultural capital. 

To combat this silly state of affairs, one bright spark has put together a petition insisting on "mandatory noise complaint waivers for anyone who buys or rents a property within close distance of a music venue."

The petition goes on to state

"There are innumerate cases of people knowingly moving within close proximity of live music venues, only to try to have their licenses revoked or have them closed completely when they take exception to the noise."

"It is extremely detrimental to the UK's entertainment industry, particularly on a grassroots level, when all the music venues start disappearing. Music is a key British export and to endanger our strong national artist community is to endanger a key British industry."

"As such, anyone who wishes to buy or rent a property within a determined distance of a music venue should have to read and sign legislature that waives their right to complain about the noise from the nearby venue. If they do not wish to be bothered by something that was a fixture of the community long before they arrived, they should not move there in the first place."

Bear in mind, this only protects existing venues – it doesn't give carte blanche for venues to set up shop in some sleepy back street and bollocks to the neighbours. The petition is currently on 30,000+ signatures – a third of the way to getting debated in parliament. With over 3 months left on it's life span, it's fairly likely to reach the target of 100,000 required to trigger a debate. If you have any stake in night life – either enjoying it, working in it, or simply appreciating that a community needs places to express itself after dark, then we urge you to sign. The process takes slightly longer than most E-petitions, but that's because signing has got a discernible, democratic out come. 

Get signing over here