Street+scene+-+Allcohol+Licensing+HFRA+response+7.2010

1. It must be generally accepted that the Licensing Act 2003 did not deliver on its main aim, which was to replace late-night binge drinking with a more relaxed café-society approach to alcohol with less disturbance of neighbours. What has happened is more often the opposite. Many quiet local pubs are being driven out of business while many larger ones survive on big screen sport; and a late night licence is a magnet for weekend revellers. The brunt of the anti-social fall-out is generally borne by residents in local communities, some being worse affected than others.
 * Haringey Federation of Residents Associations **
 * RESPONSE (18.7.2010) BY HARINGEY FEDERATION OF RESIDENTS ASSOCIATIONS TO HARINGEY COUNCIL’S STATUTORY CONSULTATION ON THEIR** ** STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY (2010) **
 * Six years’ experience of the Licensing Act 2003**

In 2004 we warned that this would happen unless the Council made a real effort to take into account the views and needs of local residents. We made substantially the same points in response to the statutory consultation in 2008 and sadly we must now repeat them: the Council needs to adopt a much more community-friendly Licensing Policy.

2. In paragraph 1.7 of the existing policy the Council says that it has “had regard to the needs and wishes of the communities it serves”. Maybe it did, but it could do much more to meet these needs and wishes in the following areas: (a) drinking in the street (b) saturation policy (c) Safer Neighbourhood policing (d) operating schedules (e) the management of hearings (f) the provision of information.
 * The needs and wishes of the communities**

3. Drinking on public transport is no longer allowed, to the relief of the general public using these services. Drinking in the street can also be a serious nuisance when people congregate on the highway in large numbers to drink and smoke. Currently the Council consults the police and no one else on whether to impose a street drinking ban: if the Council is serious about having regard to the needs and wishes of the communities it should consult them too.
 * //- Drinking in the street//**

4. Similarly with the saturation policy, the Council has decided “in consultation with the police” not to adopt a Special Saturation Policy. After six years’ experience of late-night licensing it is clear that an extra dimension is added to anti-social behaviour when you have three or more late night venues within a few yards of each other. One problem is the multiplying of the number of people gathering on the highway outside the venues, another is the difficulty in identifying which of the venue managers has responsibility, another is the crowd mentality which leads to singing and boisterous behaviour and indeed fights. This is when ‘café-society’ turns into a nuisance, especially for any surrounding residential communities. A special saturation order could prevent such development. The Council should not act on the advice of the police alone, but should be willing to consult the community affected regarding their needs and wishes.
 * //- Saturation ban//**

5. Safer Neighbourhood Policing can respond to nuisance situations pretty well during the day, but alcohol-related crowd trouble begins at night and the Borough Commander has recently changed the shift patterns so as radically to reduce late night duties. This weakens the control on anti-social behaviour connected with late night venues. Since the Council works in close partnership with the police on licensing matters this perceived gap in late night policing needs to be the subject of further discussion.
 * //- Safer Neighbourhood policing//**

6. Operating Schedules require applicant licensees to explain to the licensing authority how they will meet the statutory objectives, including the prevention of crime, disorder and public nuisance. There is, however, no requirement at present for the applicant to consult those living within the vicinity. If this requirement were built into the Operating Schedule it would go some way towards meeting the needs and wishes of the community.
 * //- Operating Schedules//**

7. The procedure for hearing applications puts objectors at a serious disadvantage. The Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005 provide (at reg 7) that the notice of hearing should be accompanied by information regarding the procedure to be followed at the hearing. But this is not done in any meaningful way. For example, the objector is not warned that any documents or information in support of their representations needs to be submitted //before// the hearing otherwise the licensing sub-committee will not admit them without the consent of all other parties. Also there is no warning that time restraints will be imposed on speech-making; and objectors need to know this in order to make effective presentations.
 * //- Management of hearings//**

8. The Haringey website now makes excellent provision for anyone wanting to know about general planning permission eg the content of current planning applications, the record of past decisions and the reasons given. In contrast there is a lack of information about the terms on which licences have been granted, so no one can tell whether they have been exceeded without taking a trip to the Technopark in Tottenham Hale and looking at the manual records. It is time all this information was made available on the Council website.
 * //- The provision of information//**

9. At present some communities in Haringey have to put up with alcohol-related anti-social behaviour on a scale that has been made worse by the Licensing Act 2003 and an ineffective Licensing Policy. We are stuck for the present with the Act but at least Haringey Council can move its Licensing Policy in the direction of the needs and wishes of the community; and so it should.
 * Generally**

Peter Thompson HFRA Licensing Officer 18th July 2010