Liverpool City Council “failing to protect” indie music claims local venue

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24 Kitchen Street, an independent music venue in Liverpool, has slammed Liverpool City Council for “failing to protect grassroots and independent music in the city.”

The claim comes after Liverpool City Council granted permission for windows to be installed to a building development next door to the venue.

It is understood from acoustic surveys that the installation of these windows will most likely lead to noise complaints for the venue once residents move in in September 2020.

Liverpool City Council

A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “24 Kitchen Street is a fantastic asset to the Baltic Triangle and Liverpool’s music scene. It’s for that reason that the city council has spent a huge amount of time working with the venue and the developer of the neighbouring scheme on understanding and resolving any acoustic issues.

“After a number of noise assessments and late night visits, the council is satisfied that the new residential building incorporates a sufficiently high-performance specification of acoustic proofing which would sufficiently mitigate against noise from typical events at 24 Kitchen Street.

“The city council recently adopted the Agent of Change policy to ensure more weight was given to music venues such as 24 Kitchen Street in cases such as this. And to ensure future relations between the venue and the residents is based on a healthy footing, the city council is also looking at a deed of easement which would provide legal assurances to the existing position of all parties concerned.”

What can a deed of easement do?

A deed of easement is a legal document that grants the right to use another person’s land for a specifically stated purpose.

In 2013, a deed of easement protected the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London when the venue complained that proposed nearby residential flats would result in noise complaints. The legal document allowed the nightclub to continue business without fear of complaints from the residents.

The chief executive of the Ministry of Sound, Lohan Presencer described the deed of easement as “groundbreaking”.

24 Kitchen Street has published a timeline, explaining their perspective of the situation and started the #savekitchenstreet campaign.

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com