Busking under threat in London's busiest spots

New scheme could leave buskers with only three designated performance spaces on Oxford Street

(AFP via Getty Images)

Westminster City Council have closed consultation on a new licensing scheme for street performers.

The scheme could leave buskers with only three designated performance spaces on Oxford Street, with further restrictions in Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown and Leicester Square.

The council will now spend a few weeks analysing responses before proposing recommendations to a licensing committee in late April. Should the license scheme be recommended, buskers found to have broken the new rules will face a harsh penalty of up to £1,000.

Licensees will also need to agree to unclear “specific conditions”, and a new, supposedly voluntary, code of conduct will be introduced.

Buskers will also have to be granted a license to sell merchandise under the new rules. Westminster council have not disclosed what specifications potential street performers will have to meet to secure a trading license to sell their CDs and other goods.

The licensing scheme has been described as “light-touch” by the council, but the Westminster Street Performance Association say the proposals could lead to “the banning of busking” in London’s city centre.

The council say they receive more than 1,800 complaints every year related to busking, and councillor Heather Acton said she couldn’t “turn a deaf ear” to them. Acton believes the consultation and analysis by the council will help find a “sensible middle path” between street performers and complainants.