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Up-coming Council plenary session to pass ordinance facilitating organisation of live music

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The Council of Formentera's Office of Tourist Planning is finalizing details regarding the regulation of live music performances in locales across the island, the ultimate goal being to give added value to the services that bars and restaurants provide already. The initiative has also been reviewed and commented on by representatives of the sector.

At the core of the initiative are two main components: the first, a modification of the noise pollution ordinance, and the second, the drafting of a new regulatory ordinance on hours of public operation, secondary entertainment activities and leisure activities that include music, to be approved in plenary session once consensus has been reached with the implicated sectors.

The changes made to the noise pollution ordinance are basically adaptations that put Formentera in line with the new European and state regulations. The ordinance allowed for the request of a secondary music license, provided certain requirements and conditions were met regarding soundproofing and noise reduction installations. Upon adherence to these conditions, locales are able to host music performances inside their establishments until four o' clock in the morning. The same conditions will be maintained, excepting small technical modifications.

The ordinance on hours of public operation was approved in 2008 and establishes a set of official hours for each class of activity, as well as the times throughout the day during which certain activities are restricted by establishment, in order to avoid unfair competition. This regulation is quite restrictive, passed the year in which large concentrations of people were frequent sights at beachfront bars on Formentera, a fact which triggered neighbour complaints and other problems. As a result, the ordinance left live music and DJ-hosted events in a state of non-regulation, and only allowed for background music to be played electronically.

Under the new ordinance the previously-established hours of operation have remained the same. Newly incorporated into the ordinance's current incarnation is the possibility of hosting live music during different time slots, a requirement for this being that participating establishments remain open a minimum number of months per year, thus promoting a process of desestacionalització – a reduction of reliance on the single summer-season model and increasing the draw in other seasons throughout the year. In this way, also incorporated has been the possibility of requesting wedding permits and summer opening and closing celebration permits, provided the establishments commit to a long summer season. The ordinance also stipulates that establishments be equipped with a series of minimum installations, another issue that had previously been left without regulation and which was able to be resolved with the current initiative.

The new regulation represents a historic petition, both on the part of the restaurant and bar sector and of our community of musicians, which, this latter group, given the scarcity of establishments that fulfil the technical soundproofing conditions required for live music performances, had asked for a more flexible regulatory code, especially during winter months. The Formentera Council held a meeting with all those involved in order to heed proposals and adopt an ordinance adapted to the needs of everyone.

The result is an ordinance that is more flexible, but not so permissive as to result in unfair competition among those locales like clubs and cafés-concert spaces that hold the necessary licenses. In this way, the regulations allow a series of activities to take place during set hours, favouring those establishments that remain open for more months in winter, without going so far as to promote 'macro-festes' (large-scale parties), a fact which allows for the respect of neighbouring residents. In short, an added value is given the services provided by local establishments and winter months in Formentera are made more dynamic, offering a regulated music programme.