VIDEO: Complaints have been received by Dartmouth Town Council about the noise from buskers.

The town council has discussed the complaints is has received but has said it can do nothing about it. Some of the buskers are also selling CDs. This requires a licence if on the highway or the permission of South Hams District Council if on its land.

Following a request by Cllr Steve Smith at the town council meeting of May 9, that the “problem of amplified music must be raised with SHDC”, Cllr Robin Springett informed the meeting: “Under current legislation musicians were allowed to perform and no licence was necessary unless they were connected to a mains supply. The council may wish to modify the by-laws when they take ownership of Royal Avenue Gardens from the district council later in the year.”

There is no mention of connections to mains supply in the by-laws relating to Royal Avenue Gardens. A spokesman for SHDC said: “We do not have a contract with buskers in Royal Avenue Gardens, and it is not that busking is allowed, but rather that we have not enforced their removal from our land.

“Under the Live Music Act 2012, a person can perform live music in a public place without the need for a licence, there is no difference between whether they have a mains supply or not.

“To vary a by-law involves a long process and I am unsure whether South Hams District Council will be seeking amendments to any by-laws, especially as we have similar powers through the use of Public Spaces Protection Orders.”