Chelmsford City Council approves late-night levy

The fee will be implemented on the 1 November 2014 and apply to licensed premises which sell alcohol between 1am and 6am, following a full council meeting last night. However, premises which only sell alcohol during these hours on New Year’s Eve will be exempt.

According to licensing law firm Poppleston Allen, the levy is expected to raise between £30,000 and £50,000 each year.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex will receive 70% of the net revenue, but has agreed to return the entire amount to fund community safety initiatives, overseen by the council’s One Chelmsford Board, it added. The other 30% will go directly to the council.

Licensees in the town hit out at the “underhand” and “farcical” use of figures by the council and police during the consultation period earlier this month.

The council claimed that 60% of the 33 responses to its questionnaire on the measure were in favour of the proposals, but operators said the statistic is misleading as it does not include objections from the several members of the trade who submitted written responses, but did not fill in the questionnaire.