A new code of conduct for street performers in Trafford has ruffled feathers, but not everyone thinks it’s a bad idea. Following a series of complaints and an altercation between street performers and a business that required police presence, Trafford council had to introduce a new code of conduct for buskers in Altrincham town centre.
The original ideas for the proposed code included no amplification, limiting busker numbers in the area and requesting performers to be prepared to move position if requested.
A public consultation on the suggestions gathered over 460 responses and voiced widespread support for buskers. As a result, the council was initially not going to introduce a code at all.
However, more recently, new complaints were made by local businesses about buskers and the authority had to change tack again. In April, a new code of conduct was rolled out and it is set to remain in place until at least September 2022, after which point it will be reviewed.
The new code asks street performers to be considerate, play at a reasonable volume only using amplification where necessary, minimise disturbance to local businesses and be mindful of where they set up. The new code has already drawn some criticism, with some seeing no need for any code at all.
Altrincham HQ’s Alex McCann tweeted: “It’s a real backwards step. The results of the Trafford council consultation found clearly there was no need for a code of conduct. Why have consultations (at a cost to the tax payer) for them to be disregarded?
“Trafford council, your own consultation recommended ‘not to implement the code of conduct at the present time’. Didn’t the survey back buskers overwhelmingly? Or did the survey results not come into it?”
But one busker believes the move is perfectly reasonable.
Chester Bingley busks in Altrincham and other nearby town centres with his guitar and is the director of Keep Streets Live, an initiative that promotes ‘fair, open and democratic use of shared public spaces for informal offerings of art and music’.
Chester said he did have initial reservations about the new code of conduct, but that the council quickly put him at ease and collaborated with his campaign to draft the new document.
He said: “Despite initial reservations when we saw the proposals, Trafford council were very receptive to our views. I arranged a meeting and we spent a couple of hours walking around the town centre looking at the spaces available for busking and how it could sensibly operate.
“I’ve not personally heard of and conflicts between businesses and buskers in Altrincham, although I do understand that there are some complaints largely confined to a handful of businesses.
“The new code sets out a process of resolving conflicts and emphasises collaboration, dialogue and compromise rather than imposing arbitrary rules and regulations, and is very much based on the same principles as those in York, Chester and Liverpool.”
Chester believes the new document is positive overall, and was set out with the best of intentions.
He added that while a couple of sentences ‘could be redrafted’, he believes it’s a ‘very fair and reasonable document’.
Chester said: “I’d urge buskers to be mindful of their volume and share the space available. Due to part of the town centre being privately owned there is limited space available for buskers to perform so it is not fair on businesses or other buskers if this space is monopolised by individuals playing too loud, for too long or too often.
“We appreciate the council being open to discussions and hope they continue to pursue this path. Perhaps the management of the private shopping streets could also look at opening up their land to busking which would increase the number of available pitches and take some pressure off the current spots.”
Following previous criticism of the code, a spokesperson for Trafford council said: “We carefully considered the results of the consultation and initially decided not to implement a code, but to monitor the situation in Altrincham Town Centre. However after a further period of monitoring, complaints continued to be received from local businesses.
“Accordingly we made a number of changes to the code of conduct to reflect the results of consultation – and the code has been introduced for a temporary period only so its impact can be assessed.”
The full code can be found here.
