DARTMOUTH Town Council has voted in favour of looking into a by-law to control noisy busking in the town.

Many residents have complained to town councillors about the volume of some buskers in Royal Avenue Gardens. In response, Cllr Mike Rowley proposed to councillors at Monday’s full council meeting they consider updating existing by-laws to ensure the town council’s code of practice is complied with. Music licenses would still be granted, so events such as Regatta and Dart Music Festival would go ahead as usual.

Cllr Rowley said: “I’m not asking at this stage to actually do it; I’m asking that we investigate the costs and the process involved in implementing a by-law. The volume of some buskers was one of the most frequent things brought up at the recent Royal Avenue Gardens Open Day. It’s a bit fraught. There was one person who was perfectly happy with the current situation but, it has to be said, the majority were against it.

“If it’s not a long drawn out and expensive process it’s worth getting that power so we can actually to do something about this. Otherwise, we have to record the sound, take it to environmental health at South Hams Council, they have to make a decision on whether it’s too loud or whatever, possibly come down and record it too. Whereas if we license them – we don’t have to charge them, and we don’t want to stop them doing it - we just want to be able to have the power to say if this is too noisy and upsetting some of our residents, please turn it down. We don’t want to stop buskers in the town, we just want the power to ask them to turn it down.”

He requested the town clerk investigate the cost and procedural implications of obtaining a by-law to enable the town council to control the activities of buskers within Dartmouth, and report costs and procedures back to the council for consideration.

In his report to councillors Cllr Rowley said: “The Royal Avenue Gardens Open Day received a number of complaints from residents about the noise levels created by some of the buskers operating in the gardens. It must be said there was also some support for buskers.

“There have been instances when Dartmouth Town Council staff have approached buskers who have been particularly loud and received negative and aggressive responses. The council currently has no powers to control the activities of buskers operating in public places within Dartmouth other than to record the noise levels and report to Environmental Health at South Hams Council.

“For Dartmouth Town Council to be able to have a direct control it is necessary to gain a by-law allowing the town council to license buskers operating within the town. The purpose is to give the town council the power to enforce reasonable sound levels and exclude buskers who fail to comply. It is definitely not the purpose of this proposal to exclude buskers per-se.”

At Monday’s meeting Cllr Cathy Campos referred to May’s full council meeting when the noisy busking issue was raised.

She said: “I’ve had dialogue with several residents who are also very upset. One has taken my advice and recorded the noise levels and taken it to Environmental Health. At an earlier town council meeting we agreed we would support that. I’m very much in favour of looking into a by-law.”

As reported in the Dartmouth Chronicle on May 19 the town council already has a code of conduct in place to deal with noisy buskers, but no resources to implement it.

At May’s meeting councillors voted in favour of Cllr Campos’ proposal to collect evidence from residents and makes a formal complaint to Environmental Health.

Dartmouth Town Council agreed a Buskers’ Code of Conduct at a Finance and General Purposes Committee in March 2021

The code states: “Dartmouth Town Council welcomes all types of music and entertainment to the Royal Avenue Gardens, the Old Market, Coronation Park and The Castle Estate but we politely ask you to respect other people and adhere to guidelines.

Guidelines include music or voices should not be loud enough to be heard at a distance of 50 metres; busking must not be intrusive or a nuisance in nearby premises; entertainment should be restricted to a maximum of one hour in any one place and should not be repeated in that place or within 50 metres of it within two hours.

It also states entertainers must stop performing immediately if requested to do so by a police officer, Dartmouth Town Councillor or council officer.