Camden's conditions

London's Camden Council has initiated a licensing scheme which licensees fear could lead to increased costs and red tape. By Michelle Perrett.

When Camden Council published its new licensing policy in September, licensees in the borough shuddered with fear. The worry was that Camden was jumping on the bandwagon with a policy that would lead to a repeat situation of that in Westminster, where all new late licences are banned and existing ones are limited to 1am.

The trade also fears that the policy is going to bring more bureaucracy, costs and red tape to licensees in the area.

But Trish O'Flynn, licensing officer for the borough, is keen to dispel this myth. She said the policy has not been introduced to try and reduce the number of licences or restrict opening times, but to better manage the late-night economy of the area.

"We need to be more strategic and take into account the bigger picture.

"We are not trying to reduce the number of licences and we are not chopping hours," she said.

The policy, which is called "Night In, Night Out", has seen zoning introduced to areas of the borough and it will see all new entertainment licences restricted to a standard midnight. Opening to 1am and later will be allowed but only in areas that have been identified by the Urban Development Project as a major town centre or commercial streets.

These include areas such as Kilburn, Swiss Cottage, and central London streets such as Charing Cross Road.

But Ms O'Flynn wants to reassure licensees that the council has no intention to cut licences just for the sake of it and will consider every public entertainment licence on its own merits.

"The presumption is to renew licences under our policy," she said "But we do expect licensees to be socially responsible."

All new licensees will have to demonstrate that opening an additional site "may result in a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour".

For example, local residents in one case have been keen for some pubs to stay open as the presence of doorstaff keep crime and disruption away from the area.

All premises located in areas of high crime need to develop a crime prevention strategy in conjunction with the council. They must collect litter outside their premises and inform customers where to get public transport so that they can get home.

Licensees are also encouraged to advertise mini-cab numbers to ensure customers can get home safely.

On top of this, all new licensees are expected to have taken British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) qualifications or to have suitable industry experience. Some premises such as nightclubs should have licensees in charge who have taken the BII's National Drug Certificate so they can contribute to crime reduction and stop drug use on their premises.

Ultimately, Ms O'Flynn wants to encourage licensees to look after their customers and she believes that all staff should also be trained in drug awareness and conflict management.

But Michael Nicholas, chairman of Camden Inner London Licensee Association has questioned the need for a policy, arguing it will increase costs and red tape for licensees. He said "I think it's going to bring endless red tape and bureaucracy, costs will increase under the new policy."

Mr Nicholas does not oppose the principles of the policy which is targeting crime and disorder. But he argues that the policy may be hard to enforce and what it actually does is deflect from the real issues in the borough. He believes that resources could be better spent elsewhere on public services, policing, clamping down on unlicensed premises and drug dealing in the area.

"I think rather a lot of money was spent on the policy document which could be better spent on public services," he said. "What is the policy going to do to stop drug-dealers in the area?"

Currently, the council is working on various initiatives with local licensees. It has introduced partnership forums so that residents and licensees can discuss all issues related to the late-night economy. Although Ms O'Flynn insisted that the meetings "have broken down a lot of barriers", she believes that there is a need for licensees to be more proactive with their neighbours, building relationships with residents and local authorities.

The council is also running an initiative called "Project Glitterball" which sees night-clubs in the area working with the police to reduce crime and disorder. It involves undercover police officers checking premises to ensure that drugs and violence are dealt with.

But Ms O'Flynn believes that the proposed fee structure under the new licensing reforms will not provide enough money to run the licensing system.

This isn't at all surprising as it is understood that licences will cost between £300 to £500 under the new regime.

Camden currently charges over £17,000 a year for a licence to midnight for a 1,501 to 3,000 person capacity site.

The council is currently working with financial analysts to work out the costs and procedures it will need to introduce for the new system.

Camden may be introducing restrictions on licensees in its borough but if the new licensing bill is enacted in 2004, as has been predicted, it could make the policy redundant.

Reforms will mean that local authorities will have to meet strict rules from the government and Camden may not be allowed to yield as much power. As yet it isn't certain how much power local authorities will have. It's just a matter of wait and see.

Camden's licensing policy:​

For new licences the council will consider:

• if the licensed activity may result in a drop in crime
• if the licensed activity will not adversely affect the safety of local residents
• if there is potential to cause any adverse impact, then preventative measures must be taken
• there is a high level of public transport to and from the premises.

For renewals the council will consider:

• levels of reported crime and disorder in the area
• past impact the pub has had
• whether measures agreed to mitigate any adverse impact have been acted on.