The village halls in Hastingwood, Roydon, Nazeing and Sheering would be among the venues hit by a Government decision to introduce new music charges.
Churches, village halls, charity shops and sports clubs across the Harlow constituency - including Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering - face a new £20 million tax from Gordon Brown's Government.
A whole host of local venues would be hit, including the village halls in Sheering, Roydon and Hastingwood, and other public halls such as St Giles Hall in Nazeing.
And with charity shops affected too by the charges, vital organisations such as St Clare Hospice, which is based in Hastingwood and has charity shops in Epping and Harlow, will also be affected.
In the small print of obscure new regulations, the Government is abolishing charities' and voluntary groups' long-standing exemption from music licensing rules - hitting them with unexpected new bills just for holding events with recorded music or for playing a radio.
To date, voluntary groups have not had to pay for a so-called "PPL" performance rights licence in order to play recorded music.
This exemption reflects the public benefit that such organisations provide, but this is now being abolished by the Government.
This will affect church worship, charity discos, tea dances, youth clubs, dancing groups, sports clubs and even charity shops which have a radio in their staff room.
The changes are being imposed by Peter Mandelson's Whitehall empire.The new levy will come into effect in April 2010 once the new regulations are ratified by Parliament.
The Government admits the new levies will cost voluntary groups £20 million a year. Some organisations will "cease playing music" because they cannot afford a licence, and it will hit a quarter of a million organisations - 140,000 charities, 6,750 charity shops, 66,440 sports clubs, 4,000 community buildings, 5,000 rural halls and 45,000 religious buildings.
These new levies are on top of bureaucratic rules imposed by the Licensing Act 2003, which requires expensive 'premises licences' for village halls to hold regular small-scale social functions, and which has imposed new red tape to play unamplified live music.
This is another Labour assault on the fabric of British community life.
Having effectively shut down post offices and local pubs across Harlow and the surrounding villages, Labour's bureaucrats now have our village halls, scout huts, charity shops and churches in their sights.
There are many community buildings in Harlow and the villages which hold numerous events to bring our communities together and to raise money for countless local charities and causes.
I have visited Sheering Youth Club which would also be affected should it hold discos in the future. With everything from discos to tea dances covered by the regulations it is all ages, our young people and senior citizens, in our communities that would be affected.
I find it incredible that Gordon Brown is so intent on harming our local institutions that do so much to make our communities thrive. I am glad that Conservatives are opposing these changes and standing up for local voluntary groups.
These stealth taxes must be fought tooth and nail.
Rob Halfon - Working hard for Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon and Sheering
