MP raises issue of licensing of one off and annual outdoor events

On Monday Cambridges MP, Julian Huppert, put a question to the ministers from Home Office in the House of Commons

View it here at 29.10mins

The fair initially contacted the Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge as part of a wider campaign to ensure that the during the reform of the Licencing Act the views of outdoor event organisers are heard and in the hope that the new act will properly cater for annual and one off events.  

At the moment, the licensing act and its processes are geared entirely towards licensing full time venues.  We would like to see reform taking into account the major differences between dedicated buildings operated year round and outdoor events taking place once a year. At the moment, even the cost of a license is based simply on numbers, whether you run 365 events a year, or just for one day. The current act presents huge, and in our view, unnecessary obstacles in the path of event organisers, obstacles which in themselves don't help with the intended purpose of the act. We would like to see a reformed act that recognises the difference between different kinds of event and takes into account the length of time it takes to organise an event such as Strawberry Fair.

The chair of strawberry and other event organisers from the wider events industry are very pleased that the MP has recognised the risks posed to both a vibrant festival industry and to smaller scale local community events, both of which are essential to our society.  We will continue working with the MP to promote this issue to government.