CAMPAIGN UPDATE AND SUMMARY OF LAST MONTH ADDRESS TO OXFORD CITY COUNCIL

The first part of this posting is a transcription of the briefing summary which we submitted to the Council prior to the meeting, which covers every item in our address, whilst the second part will outline the next phase of the campaign and introduce the publicity coverage, which remains on-going at this time.

Meeting of Full Council, Oxford Town Hall
Monday 19th November, 4pm

William Waggott, Kevin Elliot, Richard Wood and Jo Reid delivered five minute address to Oxford City Council and handed over an in-depth summary of our report to the Lord Mayor. During the short time-slot every item on our agenda was covered and the delivery was pretty impressive. What was particulary helpful was that the Lord Mayor, in the opening preliminaries to the meeting, mentioned the importance of Oxford's twinning with Bonn and a recent visit by various groups from Bonn to the city this summer - one off these groups was the childrens' choir which was ruined by the piper! Jo's message about this was scheduled for the end of our address for maximum inpact, so our address to the Council could not have gone better.



The next step will almost certainly be the consideration of our request, for effective regulation of busking on Cornmarket Street, by the West and South Central committee. The committee will be meeting next on 16th January (full details to be confirmed soon) and we will have the opportunity to deliver another five minute address. It would be most helpful if we could have visible Jesus student support at this meeting.




The first phase of the campaign came to an end last Monday with our address and presentation to Oxford City Council. The first section of this posting is a copy of the briefing document handed over to the Council the Friday before the meeting, summarising our address. The second section will deal with what happens, and what we need to do next.


1. BRIEFING SUMMARY: Summary/overview of address to Full Council, 19th November 2007.
Subject: Regulation of Disruptive Nuisance Busking/Street Performance on Cornmarket Street.


Speakers:
Dr. William Waggott, Medical Publisher (students and office workers)
Kevin Elliot (or Lucy Russell), YWCA administration (charity & office workers)
Richard Wood (on behalf of retail)
Jo Reid, Verger of St. Michael at the North Gate (place of worship/charities)


Introduction:

The introduction will cover reasons for effective regulation of busking/street performance on Cornmarket Street. We have carried out a survey in Cornmarket Street and found that in addition to the disruption the buskers cause from noise, secondary effects such as large crowds gathering impacts upon business negatively. In addition, we would like to draw the Council’s attention to the aggressive behaviour of some buskers to tourists and an incident involving school children visiting from Bonn, our twin partner city.

We would like the Council to support busking in Cornmarket Street, but in a regulated manner so as not to discriminate against Cornmarket Street workers and students. Pedestrians do not suffer the effects of constant and loud busking that students, workers and retail operations have to endure.

Effects of busking running amok in central Oxford. The human cost; stress, irritability, inability to work or study efficiently.

In addition to the effect of having ineffective workforce which is difficult to quantify, businesses have suffered direct financial loss as a result of uncontrolled busking.

Retail operations are unable to meet fully their disability access obligations as they have no control over the large crowds that obscure their shop entrances.


Students and academic staff:

High levels of background noise severely affecting Jesus College library and study bedrooms located on Ship Street, on the corner of Cornmarket Street

Busking often carries on late into the evening, rendering study almost impossible in the library and study rooms


Charities/business office staff:

High levels of background noise due to loud, often amplified, instruments

Frequently repetitive and discordant noise from buskers

This causes stress, tension, headaches and people having to work longer hours in order to catch up with lost time during the day

Meetings being disrupted and aggravated

Difficulty with telephone conversations, with prospective clients hearing the din over the phone resulting in bad company image

The noise in the offices is amplified by the acoustics on Cornmarket Street caused by sound reverberating across the two walls caused by the buildings on either side – double glazing has been found to be ineffective against this

Loud instruments are clashing with other instruments and, because of the acoustic effect mentioned above, office staff are being subjected to a ‘cacophony of sound’


Retail staff:

The obstruction of shop entrances caused by crowds forming around popular acts has caused access difficulties – breach of Disability Discrimination Act 1995 – and considerable loss of custom, thus revenue

The obscuring of window displays has prevented potential customers seeing sale information etc.

The smaller shops are also affected by the noise, making communication between staff and customers difficult

There is a discrimination element against retailers as policies, such as not being able to erect signs outside to make up for obscured window displays, are enforced robustly whilst the rules preventing buskers/street performers from obstructing the shops are ignored


Church staff and congregation:

Loud instruments ruining quiet and solemn services and choir concerts

The abuse that has sometimes resulted from asking buskers to play elsewhere for an hour or so is doubly unacceptable in a spiritual setting; this has also been found to be an issue with the retail and business community as well. As an illustration of both noise nuisance and abusive behaviour, an incident of how a childrens’ choir concert – that had travelled all the way from Bonn – was ruined by an abusive and severely inconsiderate busker

The verger of St. Michael at the North Gate is resident on the Street and has problems sleeping due to busking going on late


Conclusion:
A simple reiteration of our claim; that we have just cause to strongly insist that the issue of regulation and code enforcement is considered seriously this time, in view of the high level of suffering and aggravation outlined in this address.


2. The Next Steps and Recent Publicity

As there was no other item on busking and street performance on the agenda, there was no discussion after our presentation. The report summary we handed over will be considered over the next two months and this will almost certainly be the job of the Central, South and West Committee, which meets on the 16th January. At this meeting we will again be able to deliver a five-minute address, and hope to have a strong student presence.

The issue of disability access also came up during our research earlier this year, with the manager of 'The Works' voicing concern over serious congestion in front of the shop caused by crowds attracted to the more popular street acts. After consulting the Council's disabled access officer on the matter, I am relieved to say that the shops are not in danger from the Disabilities Discrimination Act (which says that premises must work to ensure reasonable access to the disabled) as they will not be held responsible for the crowds. The busking code places this responsibility with the buskers.

The letter writing campaign has now started, with residents writing to the carfax Councillors and those who come from outside Carfax ward to work writing to both the carfax Councillors and their own local Councillors. This is planned to continue after the festive season, in the run up to the West and South Central committee meeting.

Finally, many of you have probably noticed the recent publicity which started with the articles in the Oxford Mail and is escalating, with the piper starting his own campaign (and petition). It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that we are being made to look like a lynch mob who are trying to run the piper out of town. We are setting the record straight (today on local BBC radio and tomorrow on jeremy Vine), by pointing out that our petition and report are calling for regulation, and therefore aimed at the Council, and not aimed at the piper. Indeed, the piper is not even mentioned in our petition, and if he appears frequently in our report, it is because he has drawn so many complaints by his noise and bad behaviour.

There is quite a lot happening at the moment so watch this space for an update on the media situation during the next few days.