Noctis urges councils to ignore ADZs
Late-night bar trade group Noctis has urged councils across England and Wales to ignore any thoughts of implementing an Alcohol Disorder Zone (ADZ).
Noctis has written to all councils highlighting six key reasons why they should not implement an Alcohol Disorder Zone (ADZ).
The controversial policy — now approved by MPs despite massive opposition — will see pubs forced to pay a levy for the cost of alcohol-related disorder.
"The idea is to get councils to think about the hugely negative impact that they may feel from bringing in an ADZ," said Noctis executive director Paul Smith.
The six points are:
• ADZ will not enhance the reputation of your locality
• ADZs are highly bureaucratic and open to legal challenge
• ADZs will be a disincentive to all good late night operators
• Problem premises should be tackled individually
• Alcohol related disorder can come from the off-trade
• The ADZ "principal use" test exempts the biggest supermarkets
"The trade made very strong and reasonable representations to the Government in advance of ADZ's coming in — yet the Government chose to ignore our advice despite the fact that just about everyone else has serious misgivings about the policy," said Smith.
"We especially want to highlight to councils who derive money from tourism that not only will having an ADZ have a serious effect on whether people chose to come, it will also serve as a handy marketing tool for all of those councils which border the ADZ location, to come to them instead.
"Noctis argues strongly that at a time of economic downturn we need to be encouraging more people into our towns and cities, not fewer."
• You can view a copy of the letter here.
