It only took a few weeks however for the Milford Place planning application to come back, with a report this time suggesting that the committee’s previous decision may not be defensible at appeal and that ‘costs’ could be awarded against the council. Members were ‘respectfully invited’ to consider the application again. They did, and this time it was passed. Further, the city council’s decision document makes it very clear that there is NO third party right of appeal.

No one wants the city council to lose on appeal and to have to pay costs to a developer because of a failure to take account of the law when making a planning decision. But was there really nothing that the council could have done in this situation? If an application goes in for housing next door to a late opening, busy, industrial premises would the potential disruption to residents not be sufficient grounds for refusal?

The Hare and Hounds, of course, does not stand in isolation on Kings Heath High Street and it already has neighbours that it has to take into account, however giving planning permission for a new flat just 18m away just doesn’t make sense. And should there be any objections to noise as a result of this new application then it’s absolutely essential that Regulatory Services take into consideration the fact that the Hare and Hounds was there first. I also hope they remember that plenty of people warned them that this was the wrong place to build a flat.

Over the course of several weeks, the committee met with musicians, venue owners, and promoters as well as record labels, academics and people involved in promoting music heritage in the city. Every one we spoke to was incredibly helpful and generous in giving up their time. And pretty much all of them told us that whilst they remained positive that the city council had instigated the review with good intentions, they felt very much that they’d ‘been here before’. This time, I said, things would be different.

The final report was extremely well received, attracting a huge amount of positive media coverage. The chief executive of UK Music expressed her ‘delight’ at what we’d done, hoping that ‘other regions of the UK would look up and follow Birmingham’s example.’ We were shortlisted for a ‘good scrutiny’ award and although we didn’t win, officers from another council asked if they could get in touch as they were keen to produce something similar. It was even covered in the NME, and I got to mention Tom Waits at a full council meeting (both ‘career’ highlights for me).

Full details of the report are here, but in essence we wanted the city council to send out a clear message that popular music mattered to the city. We recommended that it establish a Music Birmingham office to act as a single contact point for the industry, to bring together different aspects of the council as necessary and to be the external ‘face of the city’ – supporting funding applications and establishing better links with the media to support coverage of local events. We also recommended that we ought to be doing a better job of marketing our diverse musical heritage – not just with regards to heavy metal but also in relation to our history as the birthplace of British reggae and bhangra. And, given the scarcity of legal fly-posting sites we argued that the city council should make it easier for smaller venues and events to promote themselves.

And now, several months later, how is the city council getting on with implementing these recommendations? Perhaps predictably enough, they’ve either killed them off or buried them so deep in bureaucratic language that they’re virtually unrecognisable:

For instance, that recommendation to set up a Music Birmingham office and to establish a single contact for the independent music sector? The city council considers that the idea has ‘merit’, which is encouraging, however the recommendation has been well and truly booted into the ‘can’t be done’ long grass. No plans to implement at a later stage or to seek alternative funding (which would of course be essential given current finances) – just marked down as being beyond the control of the council and ‘not achievable’.

The proposal to celebrate the reunion of Black Sabbath this year? This couldn’t be brought to fruition in the summer but apparently discussions are ‘ongoing’. Given the entrenched opposition to recognising the band as ‘Freemen of the City’, I’m wouldn’t recommend that anyone holds their breath.

The recommendation to develop a digital music archive in the new Library of Birmingham? Not achievable it seems.

There are a few areas where the city council is suggesting that it has achieved the recommendations but whilst it might technically have done so, they’ve been significantly watered down. The proposal that, along with partners, we provide advice and support for local businesses to have a presence at the industry event MIDEM, for example, has been signed off as ‘achieved’ purely on the basis that if any businesses approach the chamber then they will be ‘signposted’ to the right people to talk to. Not exactly the proactive approach that we had in mind.

It’s disappointing that the city council has chosen to largely ignore the good ideas that came out of this report. There remains a real opportunity for Birmingham City Council to do something different here and to start backing the kind of music that I would argue most people in the city – given our youthful ‘demographic’ – are into. Everyone knows that money is extremely tight at the moment but if the will was there then I’m convinced that something really positive could come out of all the hard work that was put into this piece of work. It would be incredibly frustrating if this report was just left to gather dust and we watched as other cities across the country did all the kind of things that we know we ought to be doing here.

Destination Birmingham: city council ‘tracking’ report

I think this is a huge mistake, though I would love to be persuaded otherwise. It strikes me that L,S&C is a ‘department’ that really benefits from having a focal point for national and local organisations to deal with, someone to champion the sector and take the flack for when things go wrong. I chaired the corresponding Scrutiny committee last year (now ‘deleted’), and worked on the ‘Music Birmingham’ report, and time and time again it came up that a clear, single point of contact at the city was essential in terms of knowing who to lobby and ask for support and advice, whether it was in terms of funding or dealing with other council departments.

And that was at a time when we had one politician overseeing the portfolio. Now it seems we have the following: the Deputy Leader – sharing with the CM for Commissioning, Contracting and Improvement – responsibility for management of assets and grants; the CM for Social Cohesion and Equalities overseeing major community and cultural events of citywide, regional or national significance and, potentially, the relevant District Committee Chairmen looking after community arts, libraries, and the local sport and leisure service. This is far too confusing and doesn’t offer the clarity that I believe many people involved in arts and culture in this city are looking for.

I’m sure the new administration recognises the importance of the creative industries sector in this city. After all, city based cultural organisations contribute over £270m to the region’s economy every year – though of course, with the right level and quality of support, this could be so much more – and the strength, or otherwise, of our cultural offer is one of the key drivers for people deciding whether or not to stay in or move to our city. And I’m not interested in making party political points out of this issue. However, they need to identify someone in the city council to champion arts and culture, ideally at cabinet level, and they need to do it soon.

In my eight years of being a city councillor the mayoral issue has got more people talking about local politics and about how this city could best be governed than anything else – in fact, nothing else has come even remotely close. Local politics has actually become interesting, which is a hell of an achievement and exactly how it should be given the importance of the issues that are at stake. This is the best chance we going to get to reinvigorate local politics and show that we care about having a real say in how this city is governed for many, many years. And we should grab it with both hands.

Fantastic to see the Birmingham music scene featured in the NME today. Anyone interested in music in the city will be aware of the buzz that’s around at the moment. And it’s not just about great up and coming bands such as The Carpels, Peace, Swim Deep, Jaws and numerous others, it’s also down to forward thinking venues such as The Rainbow, the Hare and Hounds and the Bulls Head, expert and influential media such as Brum Notes and Counteract and smart promoters such as Birmingham Promoters and The Catapult Club. Local labels such as One Beat Records, who are putting on an event at the mac on 22nd July showcasing some of the best local bands in the city, prove that there is a growing infrastructure to support great music in Birmingham. If a scene is characterised by people doing their own thing but also working together, for the benefit of all, then Brum really can stake a claim as the ‘hottest place in UK indie’ at the moment.

The event takes place in Birmingham on the 8th and 9th September 2012.

Committee Recommendations

Chris Whiting Band at The Rainbow

Last year’s UK Music report, ‘Destination UK’, was the ‘most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the power of music as a tourist draw’ and the first of its kind to quantify the economic value of ‘music tourism’ to the country’s regions. It also laid down a challenge to public bodies, locally and nationally, to ‘realise the potential of this considerable economic asset’. And the Scrutiny Committee that I chair in Birmingham has responded to that challenge, coming up with a series of recommendations for city council approval – in our scrutiny report ‘Destination Birmingham‘ – that I hope will send out the clear message that we see popular music as being of huge importance to the cultural and economic life of our city.

We felt it important to focus the review on ‘popular music’ – difficult though that is to define – rather than classical music, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there have been several attempts over the last few years in Birmingham to make more of this ‘cultural asset’ – however, much of it has been ad hoc and has lacked the formal support of our city council. In contrast, classical music is widely valued and recognised and is supported and promoted with public funds.

There has also been little done in terms of quantifying the economic value of popular music to Birmingham – unlike classical music and cultural activities in general. However, with the UK Music report showing that major concerts and festivals in the West Midlands result in an annual spend of over £138m and our own research showing that five independent festivals alone in the city bring over £5m into the local economy every year, clearly this is an area worthy of serious attention.

We also wanted to focus on popular music because of its diversity and appeal to such a wide range of people. Birmingham is one of the youngest cities in Europe and although this is a huge generalisation, popular music is often the culture that younger people are most interested in and it is sometimes seen as undervalued. And the success of our bands – whether from the past – such as UB40, Black Sabbath or Duran Duran – the present, or the future – such as The Arcadian Kicks and The Carpels - adds greatly to the international profile of the city. You only have to look at cities like Manchester and Liverpool to see how popular music helps in terms of marketing a city as a culturally exciting place for people to visit and set down roots. This indirect value is hugely important. The success of its local bands in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, led to Manchester University being one of the most sought after universities in the country, boosting the city’s media and creative industries and generating huge interest in its musical heritage.

We followed three particular lines of enquiry during the course of our review:

Firstly, heritage: One of UK Music’s recommendations in ‘Destination Music’ is that ‘tourism authorities and LEPS should capitalise on the unique musical strength and heritage of each region’. And we know that from our own experience here in Birmingham that musical heritage can be a significant component of the tourism industry. Last year’s Home of Metal exhibition produced by Capsule and held in the city’s main museum generated £1.6m for our local economy and attracted an unprecedented level of media coverage. It was covered in every paper from the Sun to the FT, was broadcast on the BBC and CNN, and the subject of a 30 minute documentary on Sky. Many commentators expressed surprise that we hadn’t shown off this element of our past before, with The Sunday Times reporting: ‘this is Birmingham. They do things indifferently here.’ And ‘Brummies don’t like to shout about what they do’. Yet, clearly, there is much that we could be shouting about. As well as heavy metal, Birmingham is the birthplace of British reggae and bhangra, home to some huge international bands, and a city where significant music events have taken place. Our report, then, comes up with a number of recommendations as to how we can better celebrate the diverse musical heritage of our city.

The second area we looked at was in relation to the current industry: what are Birmingham’s strengths and weaknesses; where are the gaps? At the heart of this issue are the creators and performers of music and whether they are able to flourish here in Birmingham. We know that there is a quantifiable ‘music industry’ in this city, including a range of promoters, venues, and festivals; artists, labels and managers. What we lack, however, are the crucial support networks that have national recognition and support by the industry in comparison to other cities. A local, unsigned band made it very clear to us that this strong support structure is often needed to enable a band to grow and reach the next level. The absence of this support can mean that many bands with aspirations leave the city as the lack of infrastructure and necessary contacts hinder progress. Unlike some other cities, there is no discernible voice advocating for the independent sector in Birmingham – yet co-ordination and the ability to articulate the sector’s needs is vital if we want to help support new bands and retain talent here.

Finally we looked at what our city council could do practically to help. Very few of the people we spoke to asked for direct funding from the council and everybody saw the dangers of us being in the position of ‘talent spotting’ or ‘picking winners’. However, it’s clear that we ought to be doing more to support this sector particularly with regards to setting a strategy and priorities, as well as providing a clear point of contact within the council for those wanting to put on events or gigs, or develop their music business in Birmingham. This role could involve providing support for funding applications, helping establish better links with the media to improve coverage of local events and taking responsibility, with our partners, for providing business advice. Several years ago our council took the decision to install and fund such a point of contact for those to come and film in the city and the key recommendation from our report is that we create a similar role, a ‘Music Birmingham’, for the popular music sector. This would send out the clear message that we recognise the huge value of popular music to our city.

And this isn’t about the city council saying for one minute that it has any particular expertise with regards to the workings of music industry. What the city does have, however, are extensive networks, contacts and clout and given the huge importance of this sector – culturally, economically and as a way to improve perceptions of the city – the council has an important role to play in terms of finding out what the industry considers to its priorities and then being responsive to them. And sometimes of course, this may simply be about us getting out of the way. I hope that other councils across the UK pick up the challenge.

Destination Birmingham Report

Music Week 

NME 

Birmingham Post – Birmingham needs a ‘music tsar’

Birmingham Post – Black Sabbath

Classic Rock – Sabbath Day?

Loudwire – Sabbath Day?

Gibson

Guitar World

Uncut

Created in Birmingham