Manchester music venue Night & Day will return to court yet again next week in its long running legal battle with Manchester City Council over a noise abatement order. The venue and its supporters in the music industry hope that, this time, the dispute will be resolved in its favour. It's a precedent-setting case that also jeopardises attempts by mayor Andy Burnham to position Greater Manchester as a 'music city'.
Urging Manchester City Council to finally put this matter to rest, Night Time Industries Association CEO Michael Kill tells CMU, "it is deeply frustrating that the Night & Day case has reached this point". Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd adds, “the Night & Day case has dragged on for years, costing thousands of pounds and putting the N&D operators and team through extraordinary, and entirely unnecessary, levels of stress and anxiety".
The noise abatement order was issued in November 2021. Night & Day argues that complying with the order would force it to cut back its late night operations, making its wider business unviable. It had been hoped that a court hearing last July would have resulted in the noise abatement order being dropped. However, more acoustic testing at the venue was ordered instead.
Summarising the dispute ahead of next week's court hearing, management at Night & Day said in an update on social media yesterday, "we head back to Manchester Magistrates Court on Monday for our final three-day hearing. We’re hoping to remove the noise abatement notice Manchester City Council environmental health officers served on us over two years ago. The [notice] relates to a single noise complaint from a resident who purchased an adjoining flat during lockdown".
"We maintain the source of the problem is that when the adjoining building was converted from warehouse to flats, no consideration was given to the pre-existing live music venue", they go on. Potential noise issues were raised during the planning process for that building development and, "the council approved the development in full knowledge there would be noise ingress from the venue into certain flats before anyone moved in".
This is why, in Davyd's words, this dispute is "a precedent-setting case". Because the outcome of it will establish "who is responsible, and has a duty of care, to administer and manage the planning process adequately such that threats such as this do not close down vital cultural infrastructure. There was a clear failure in that responsibility and duty that permitted this residence to come into existence without basic protection for the venue".
"A lot of legal time and words have been spent on this case", he goes on, "but in the end it comes down to a straightforward question: If you build a residential space next to a long established grassroots music venue without adequate acoustic protection, whose fault is that? And the answer to that question might have many people that could be implicated or involved, might include failings or unintended errors. But the one party that definitely is not, and cannot ever be, at fault is the Night & Day".
Everyone agrees that Night & Day is a crucial part of Manchester's nighttime economy, having played a key role in transforming the previously run down Northern Quarter of the city into a cultural hub. Burnham, as mayor of Greater Manchester, has put a lot of effort in recent years into championing the city's music credentials and night time economy. However, the actions of Manchester City Council, which Burnham does not control, could scupper a lot of that work depending on the outcome of the Night & Day dispute.
"This matter should never have escalated to such an extent", says NTIA chief Kill. "It should have been dealt with much earlier, rather than subjecting the operator to exorbitant costs and undue stress concerning the future of this cherished live space".
"We urge the authorities to consider the current situation and the process that has led us to this point and the significance of Night & Day and the tremendous value it brings to the community", he adds. "We hope they will address this matter fairly and swiftly, recognising the cultural and economic importance of preserving such venues. Let us support and celebrate our cherished live spaces rather than subjecting them to undue hardship".