Rejected petition Enforce the Agent of Change Principle in Planning Law to Protect Music Venues.

I call for the implementation of the Agent of Change principle in UK planning law to better protect grassroots music venues from closure due to local noise complaints and insufficient noise impact assessments conducted by property developers.

More details

The Agent of Change principle was introduced in 2019 to protect grassroots music venues (GMVs) from noise complaints and inadequate noise assessments by property developers. However, it is not legally binding and is applied inconsistently across England and Wales. In contrast, Scotland has adopted it within its National Planning Framework 4, providing stronger protection. With 16% of GMVs closing in 2023, we should follow Scotland’s example and make the Agent of Change principle legally binding across the UK.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.

We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) already includes the Agent of Change Principle. You can find out more about the Government's position here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-01-15/24380/ and read more about the National Planning Policy Framework here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-planning-policy-framework--2

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 8 February 2025
Get petition data (json format)

About petition data

The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each Member of Parliament. This data is available for all petitions on the site. It is not a list of people who have signed the petition. The only name that is shared on the site is that of the petition creator.