Tag Archives: busking ban

To say that Birmingham City Council is facing a number of challenges at the moment would be an understatement. A combination of savage cuts to their central funding, a failed IT system, and the equal pay case which is still yet to be sorted, has left them bankrupt. The bin strikes have left rubbish piling up in the streets. One would imagine that the council has rather more important things to be focusing on than ensuring the complete eradication of street performers from the city centre.

Yet this is what us buskers currently face. Three years ago, we campaigned without success against their plans to ban all busking within specific areas of the city, due to what the council described as a ‘high volume’ of complaints (though a freedom of information request later revealed that, in one of the two affected areas, 77 of the 80 recorded complaints had come from the same person). One of our arguments at the time was that this partial ban would lead to displacement of any issues rather than a resolution, and sure enough, they have now claimed that they are receiving more complaints across the rest of the city centre. The proposed solution? To ban all busking from the entirety of the city centre.

The scope of the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) that they have proposed defies belief. Despite being assured during the introduction of PSPOs that they ‘would not be used against buskers where they are not causing anti-social behaviour’, the proposals in their current form would make it an offence for anyone to busk in the city centre, regardless of whether they themselves were causing any problems. And these proposals are likely to pass unless individual councillors take notice of what they will be voting for.

In my capacity as a director of Keep Streets Live, and a regular busker in Birmingham and its surrounding areas, I contacted every single councillor to attempt to facilitate dialogue and discussion. I have heard back from one of them, who simply said she would ‘look into it’. The council have not spoken personally with any busker, instead relying on the Environmental Health Department, who came up with the proposals in the first place. Their remit is to reduce noise complaints; there is no incentive for this department to protect artists or to promote cultural offerings.