"The council has this year axed all arts funding and now banned busking. Birmingham has become the city that banned culture". Photo: Shutterstock.
Despite strong objections from the Musicians’ Union, buskers, Keep Streets Live, and others, Birmingham City councillors have voted to ban all busking in the city centre.
The council recently ran a public consultation after receiving noise complaints from businesses and residents about busking and street preaching. Following this, a public space protection order (PSPO) was enforced last week to address “excessive noise levels” on certain streets.
During the consultation, the MU and Keep Streets Live proposed several compromises to manage nuisance noise effectively, but the council rejected these in favour of an outright ban.
The MU condemns this as an outrageous curtailment of buskers’ rights to perform and earn a living, especially after the bankrupt council axed all arts funding earlier this year.
No other UK city centre has banned busking entirely
It was clear during the council vote that councillors either misunderstood what they were voting for, or were misled into thinking it wasn’t a total ban.
MU member and busker David Fisher, who watched the meeting, has appeared on local BBC radio to point out this error by the council. As an international busker, he also explained that in all of his global travels, only one country had a city that banned central busking in its entirety — and that is Azerbaijan.
This ban follows on from a previous ban in a smaller part of the city centre, which the MU also objected to.
“We shall continue to campaign against this nonsensical ban and work with sister unions and organisations to overturn it”
MU Midlands Regional Organiser, Stephen Brown, said, “Birmingham is fast becoming a cultural wasteland. We’ve gone from being a city with a fantastic musical heritage to one where the council is now openly hostile to music and culture. The council has this year axed all arts funding and now banned busking. Birmingham has become the city that banned culture.
“Busking is part of the cultural fabric of any city because it adds colour, interest, and excitement to make a place worth living. Not so for the miserably minded councillors running Brum, however.
“Bankrupt Birmingham clearly has no idea what it’s doing when it comes to the arts, and we will all be poorer for this. We’re aghast at this draconian measure, which is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. We shall continue to campaign against this nonsensical ban and work with sister unions and organisations to overturn it. The council leadership needs to remember there are council elections next year, and the people of Brum may never forgive them if they don’t reverse this decision.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only instance of busking bans in the UK. In April, a City of London Magistrates Court ruled busking in Leicester Square a “statutory nuisance,” effectively banning it and silencing musicians.
The MU says this is unfair, law-abiding buskers shouldn’t be punished. Over 1,000 people have now signed a petition calling on Westminster Council to create new, accessible busking spots.
Find out more and sign the petition too