'Project Speed' - A Statement from Music Venue Trust

30 June 2020 - Press release

Following the announcement earlier today by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of a £250bn plan dubbed ‘Project Speed,’ aimed at  fast-tracking major building projects across the country to fuel the UK’s economic recovery, Music Venue Trust has expressed major concerns about the potential ramifications for the grassroots music sector.

Mark Dayvd, CEO of Music Venue Trust has issued the following statement:
“The announcement today of ‘Project Speed’ includes the statement that planning rules would be changed by September, to allow:
- Developers to “demolish and rebuild” vacant and redundant residential and commercial buildings if they are rebuilt as homes.
- A wider range of commercial buildings to be switched to housing without a planning application.
- Property owners to build “additional space above their properties”, via a “fast track approval process"

This is a replica of the Permitted Development Right which closed hundreds of venues before the government acted to exempt them in 2018. The decision to exempt them was taken after a long campaign supported by, among others, Boris Johnson.

We need urgent clarification from the government that they do not intend to change the National Planning Policy Framework and intend to leave the protections for music venues in place.”