Member

Unfortunately, as we have heard, there have continued to be reductions in the number of live music venues despite that, and it is quite clear that further action is needed. It can of course be argued—and I suspect the Minister will make this point—that, very often, applications come forward that fail to make reference to existing live music premises, as they should, but the local authority planning authority fails to pick it up. She could, with some justification, argue that there might not be a need to make changes, as the local authority planning department should be responsible for doing something about it. However, she will be well aware of the huge pressures on local authority planning departments and the difficulties they face.