Residents groups have again hit out at Camden’s plans to boost the borough’s nightlife, ahead of a meeting of the council’s cabinet this week.

The Labour-run council last month published proposals to relax some licensing policies restricting the hours and locations in which venues like pubs and clubs can operate.

While the Night Time Industries Association has welcomed the plans, several local community groups spoke out in opposition, fearing increased noise and crime. Much of it has been expressed in the letters pages of the Camden New Journal.

Concerns are also understood to have been raised by the police, prompting the council to withdraw the draft policies. Critics of the plans believe they will come back in similar form, however.

Barbara Brownlee, CEO of social housing provider Soho Housing Association said her residents were “worried about the level of noise, the hundreds if not thousands of people streaming around their front doors being sick, kicking off and the rise in crime”.

The council had proposed extending Camden’s “framework hours” — the period when licensed venues are not generally expected to take extra steps to prevent crime and “public nuisance”, such as by ensuring “the orderly dispersal of customers”. For nightclubs, hours would be extended from midnight to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The extended hours would apply to new licence applications, while existing venues would have to re-apply if they wished to operate longer within the expanded framework. Not all would necessarily get permission, as applications are judged on individual merit.

Brownlee said better ways of supporting the night economy would be more police, more street-cleaning, and better public transport at night. The plan’s several other opponents include the Bloomsbury Association, Seven Dials Trust, Covent Garden Community Association and Kentish Town Road Association.

Night Time Industries Association CEO Michael Kill praised the plan, calling it “a balanced approach to nightlife enhancement and community engagement”.

He added: “Extending framework hours for pubs, clubs, and fast food outlets fosters a vibrant nightlife economy while maintaining public safety.

“Concerns about noise and disturbances can be addressed through existing regulations and community feedback mechanisms. Camden’s progressive stance encourages economic growth and fosters a harmonious relationship between businesses and residents, ensuring a dynamic and inclusive urban environment for all.”

A Camden Council spokesman said it had “listened extensively” to feedback and is “still engaging with partners on our draft licensing policy”, with any final draft of the policy subject to 12 weeks’ consultation.

“Our updated policies are seeking to address the challenges faced by Camden’s evening and night-time economy. This includes the need to stop music and cultural venues closing due to economic challenges, ensure our high streets remain vibrant, and that we protect jobs — with a third of Camden’s employment in the evening economy.

“We also want to ensure we improve the safety and wellbeing of residents. This strategy seeks to achieve both goals.”

The council had also proposed scrapping “cumulative impact areas” — two zones in Seven Dials and Camden Town where the accumulated impact of existing late-night venues is considered when granting new licences in those neighbourhoods.

The proposals claimed there was “not enough evidence of cumulative impact from noise” in the zones, but residents’ groups believe they are an important feature of Camden’s licensing policies which should be retained.

Ahead of this week’s meeting of senior councillors the number of residents groups across the borough opposing the council’s plans has increased to 24.

In a letter published in the Camden New Journal last week, a coalition of 14 residents’ groups wrote: “Perhaps before starting this process Camden should have read the helpful guidance from the mayor’s night-time economy team.”

The mayor’s guidance states that a “balance must be struck between work, rest and play for London’s eight million residents. No matter what time we go to bed, we all need good sleep. Nothing we do must compromise that basic right.”

But Camden’s Evening and Night-Time Strategy “does not maintain this balance at all,” they wrote.

The coalition of 14 groups says, like the draft licensing policy before it, the Evening and Night-Time Strategy must now also be withdrawn.

“We ask that Councillor Danny Beales withdraws the strategy from consideration at [this] week’s cabinet to allow for the discussion and engagement with residents (which should have taken place already) to happen,” they say.

At tonight’s Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee yet another resident’s group has added its voice to criticism of the council.

Tricia Richards, CEO of Castlehaven Community Association, has submitted a statement to the committee to say that residents living on the north side of Camden Town “are already badly affected by the evening and night-time economy”.

She says that the citizens assembly for the Evening and Night-Time Economy (ENTE) in Camden put forward several ideas that “we would support and that would benefit our residents and area”.

“However, in reading the ENTE strategy being put to you this evening we are shocked that resident needs are being ignored and the focus is primarily on business and expansion,” she says.

Richards call on the committee to “recommend the ENTE Strategy be withdrawn until it can be reviewed with key local stakeholders and a revised document can be agreed on”.

Nine more residents groups have also signed a deputation statement to the Scrutiny Committee criticising the proposals, bringing the total to 24 residents’ groups now opposed to Camden’s licensing and night-time policies.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

This article was corrected at 8.15am on 27 February to state that 24, not 15 as we originally stated, residents’ groups are opposed.

Update, 6 March: Camden’s cabinet of senior councillors on 28 February adopted the Evening and Night-time Strategy, despite representations against it from residents groups.

Camden Council: Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee – Monday, 26 February 2024; Cabinet – Wednesday, 28 February 2024.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/02/26/more-residents-groups-voice-oppose-camdens-proposed-licensing-and-night-time-policies/

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Camden Council was forced to halt proposals for major changes to its Statement of Licensing Policy last month after receiving objections from the police, a housing association, and residents’ groups across the borough.

A meeting of councillors on Thursday 25 January was due to hear and recommend proposals for an updated policy — which would extend “framework hours” for alcohol sales and relax restrictions on clusters of licensed premises — to be put out for public consultation.

But a solitary committee officer announced to a nearly empty council chamber that the report on the proposals had been withdrawn and therefore the meeting would not go ahead.

A coalition of community groups — Bloomsbury Association, Bloomsbury Residents’ Action Group, Charlotte Street Association, Covent Garden Community Association, Kentish Town Road Association, Seven Dials Trust, and Tenants’ and Resident’s Association of Camden Town — had all raised objections to the proposals being put forward by the chair of the licensing committee, Cllr Jonathan Simpson MBE.

Simpson was awarded an MBE in 2021 after championing live music venues and cultural institutions.

In a letter published in the Camden New Journal the residents groups said the policy change “would have led to longer opening hours for pubs and bars across the borough, and made it easier to get new licences in areas that are already saturated with them”.

They said that the licensing meeting was cancelled at short notice “because the Council didn’t want the significant concerns raised by the Police to be discussed in public”.

In an earlier letter also published in the New Journal residents groups in south Camden wrote to say they shared “the concerns of the Delancey Street Residents’ Association (letters, CNJ, 28 December 2023) about conflicts of interest of councillors who have built their political identities around promoting Camden’s night-time economy”.

“Camden councillors are increasingly favouring commercial interests and later hours for alcohol consumption at the expense of the health and well-being of its resident population. This new licensing policy shows contempt for the residents of Camden and the communities we have built here,” they wrote.

The New Journal‘s sibling paper Westminster Extra also reported that an objection to the new policy had also been received from Police Inspector Stevie Bull as well as Soho Housing Association.

In a report commissioned by Camden to assess the operation of licensed premises, the specialist consultants found that residents across the borough were concerned about the noise nuisance from the increasing number of venues serving alcohol.

“Data from the Camden Licensing service highlights the fact that there were 1869 active premises licences in total [across the borough] at the end of March 2020, this figure had increased to 1968 active premises licences by late June 2021,” stated a report to the Licensing Committee in July 2021.

In Fitzrovia there were approximately 20 percent more licensed premises in 2023 than in 2019, according to Camden’s Licensing service.

However, many cultural venues are closing due to increased costs such as utilities, rent, and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on customers.

Cllr Danny Beales, the cabinet member who is promoting a new evening and night-time strategy, has said that the council’s licensing policy is “not flexible enough” but that there needs to be “higher standards” in the management of licensed premises.

Camden residents have said they want to see more diversity in the evening and night-time economy — including less alcohol — and older residents, women and marginalised communities feel excluded for a number of reasons.

The view of the residents’ groups is that the changes proposed in Camden’s draft Statement of Licensing Policy do not address these issues. Instead the new policy would just allow venues to earn more money from the longer hours for sales of alcohol — adding to crime, disorder and noise nuisance.

The coalition of residents groups want the council to engage with them to find a way to balance “the needs of visitors and businesses with those of local people”.

Camden Council has said that a report on the updated policy will now be brought before the licensing committee at a future date before being put out for public consultation.

However the council has yet to say if it will amend the new policy to address the concerns raised by the residents’ groups.

The final Evening and Night-Time Strategy is due to be considered for approval by Cabinet on 28 February 2024.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/02/02/camden-halts-licensing-policy-changes-after-objections-lodged/

#CamdenCouncil #eveningAndNightTimeEconomy #licensing

Camden Council’s licensing committee will this month be asked to consider making a number of changes to its policy, including extending the “framework hours” for pubs, bars, restaurants and night clubs in the borough — much to the alarm of residents’ groups.

The draft Statement of Licensing Policy which is being promoted by Councillor Jonathan Simpson MBE, chair of the licensing committee, will be discussed by councillors on Thursday 25 January and then, if given the go-ahead, be put out for public consultation.

Under Camden’s “hours policy” the “framework hours” determines the threshold where venues have to have additional safeguards “in their operating schedule to promote the licensing objectives and in particular to prevent crime and disorder and public nuisance”.

By making the terminal framework hour 30 minutes later for pubs, bars, restaurants and fast food outlets, premises licence holders and new applicants can avoid the additional conditions and scrutiny on their licences normally associated with closing after 11.30pm during the week days or midnight at weekends.

In the case of the proposed terminal framework hour for night clubs, music and dance venues, it will be extended by two hours on Fridays and Saturdays to 2am the following morning.

The borough’s Licensing Panels are already increasingly brazen about granting licenses for the sale of alcohol and late hours for new premises close to people’s homes, according to many residents groups.

The borough of Camden now has more licensed premises than it did in 2019 and resident associations and community groups are becoming more concerned about the number of licences, particularly for alcohol, that the council’s licensing panels are granting.

In a letter to the Camden New Journal, Councillor Richard Cotton said that residents in Camden Town are “understandably concerned” and called for a strengthening of the Cumulative Impact Area policies to offset the “downside of the evening and night-time economy”.

However, those Cumulative Impact Policy Areas could be scrapped in the revision of the licensing policy.

Camden commissioned consultants to undertake a review of the two Cumulative Impact Policies in the borough, Seven Dials and Camden Town, as well as research in other areas such as Fitzrovia.

“Residents feel strongly that a cumulative impact assessment for Camden Town is necessary,” states the consultants’ report.

“The reasons given all relate to addressing existing issues in the area, such as noise. None of the responsible authorities interviewed considered it necessary to publish a cumulative impact assessment in Camden Town.”

In Seven Dials the consultants found that “residents groups were the only stakeholders to strongly call for a cumulative impact assessment. The impact of additional outdoor dining was highlighted as a particularly big driver of the increase in noise issues in Seven Dials.”

A similar response was received in Fitzrovia when the consultants investigated.

“One of the biggest concerns around noise is around the outdoor eating ‘streateries’ that have been installed. There is worry about the levels of noise that are generated through their use. The consultants, as well as other stakeholders, also noted that they do not fit in aesthetically with the strong streetscape in Fitzrovia.

“Residents groups were the only stakeholders to support a cumulative impact assessment for Fitzrovia, the reasons given related to existing issues in the area, such as noise. None of the responsible authorities interviewed considered it necessary to publish a cumulative impact assessment in Fitzrovia,” stated the report.

As a local authority Camden is also responsible for promoting public health. Yet the new licensing regime under consideration actually perpetuates the false claim that when consumed “in moderation” the drinking of alcohol “can have health benefits”.

Only last year the World Health Organisation published a document to clarify matters on alcohol and public health. “No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health” because any potential benefits are outweighed by the cancer risk from even “light” to “moderate” drinking, it said.

The revised licensing policy comes in the wake of a public consultation and a citizen’s assembly on Camden’s evening and night-time economy.

In a report to the committee, licensing officers state:

“This draft Statement of Licensing policy will promote local businesses within the borough. By doing so, it seeks to improve job creation opportunities, contributing to a more vibrant local economy. The overarching goal is to foster sustainable economic growth, ensuring that the borough becomes an attractive hub for businesses to thrive.”

The report asks councillors to consider and comment on the draft policy and recommends that the committee authorise a 12 week public consultation on it.

Camden Council: Licensing Committee – 7pm, Thursday, 25 January 2024.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/01/19/camden-proposes-extending-framework-hours-for-alcohol-and-other-licensable-activities/

#CamdenCouncil #ENTE #eveningAndNightTimeEconomy #licensing #LondonBoroughOfCamden

Alcohol-free places for families and young people, an insomniacs’ café and places of worship open late could all feature in Camden’s evening and night-time economy.

The London mayor’s night czar, Amy Lamé, said residents and late-night businesses have thought of “practical and inspiring ideas” at a citizens’ assembly looking at Camden after dark.

She outlined ideas such as a café for those still awake in the small hours, saying “count me in,” at a themed debate.

The citizens’ assembly is first gathering of its kind in the UK to help develop a late-night strategy.

Lamé told the full council meeting on Monday 20 November: “It’s impressive that the voices of people who live, work, visit and do business in Camden have been heard so clearly.”

Suggestions included a night-time lido, free or subsidised places for young people to meet at night and night-time guardians to help people feel safe.

Lamé added: “The assembly has also highlighted the importance of retaining Camden’s radical heritage and iconic, grassroots live music venues such as the Dublin Castle and the Electric Ballroom.”

They also wanted the borough to be safer, she said.

The citizens’ assembly proposed signing up more venues as trusted spaces, bus conductors and more request stops and training communities “to be active bystanders and support each other”.

Camden’s evening and late-night is the UK’s sixth largest night-time economy, with 113,700 jobs, and attracts visitors to areas including Camden Town and Covent Garden. In 2011 it was valued at £995m-a-year.

The borough is home to seven percent of London’s key cultural venues.

The night-time economy strategy which a citizens’ assembly helped create at gatherings earlier this year will be considered by the council’s senior politicians in February.

Cllr Danny Beales, the cabinet member for new homes, jobs and community investment, said: “The night-time economy makes Camden a special place to visit.”

He said it includes key workers such as hospital porters, nurses, and transport workers, as well as those who work in the leisure industry.

“It enriches the borough culturally, economically and socially.”

Cllr Beales said vibrant night life can come with a downside.

“Everyone should feel safe and welcome going out on a night in Camden. We know that woman often do not feel safe.”

Lamé told councillors: “Men need to change their behaviour. The onus is on our brothers to be our allies.”

Shaheda Rahman from the council’s community safety team highlighted its community safety hub in Camden Town which offers support to women and girls on a night out.

There are plans to extend this to Tottenham Court Road and Holborn, with a mobile safety hub in Parkway this winter to help people get home safely late at night.

Henry Conlon from the Dublin Castle, which championed Camden band Madness, said: “It is a difficult job to balance the residents’ concerns and the business community.”

Conlon said the proposed strategy is “daring, pioneering and demonstrates a strong will”.

He welcomed suggestions to improve working conditions for people who work late at night in Camden.

Kate Gemmell from Tenants and Residents Association of Camden Town (TRACT) told councillors the citizens’ assembly report was “shockingly naïve” and has no “strategic objectives”.

She highlighted problems of anti-social behaviour, including people urinating in the street.

“The current situation in Camden Town is appalling, well past its tipping point, controlling the impact of the night-time economy on the local community.

“Each morning our streets are knee-deep in rubbish and the pavements covered in urine, vomit and drugs paraphernalia,” she said.

Gemmell said the council does not have enough resources to monitor noise problems.

“We don’t want to be woken up at night and we don’t want to be surrounded by filth.”

Beales said residents can sometimes feel disturbed by revellers and highlighted that the community needs to work together to improve things.

“We need to nip bad practices in the bud.”

Sophie Asquith from the Music Venues Trust said complaints about noise can force grassroots music spaces to reduce their hours and could face closure with reduced income.

She said planning and licencing rules can help avert problems, especially when new homes are built.

Camden Council: full council – Monday, 20 November 2023. Themed debate: Evening and night-time economy.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2023/11/24/alternatives-to-alcohol-and-other-ideas-for-camdens-evening-and-night-time-economy/

#CamdenCouncil #eveningAndNightTimeEconomy #localDemocracyReporting #LondonBoroughOfCamden

Westminster Council has launched a business certificate to identify venues that are focused on increasing safety for women in the evening and night-time economy.

The Night Haven accreditation network, which is the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to make sure all visitors and staff in Westminster’s night-time economy stay safe and free from harassment.

According to a 2021 Westminster Council survey, 66 percent of women in the borough had had a personal experience of street harassment, and 45 percent reported feeling unsafe at night.

The most common crimes being violence and sexual offences, which is particularly high in the West End says the local authority.

By working with businesses and teaching them how to spot unwanted behaviour, the council says it is committed to reducing these numbers and making the city a safe and enjoyable place for residents and visitors.

The scheme is not compulsory but the council says that by publishing a list of approved venues on its website businesses will want to sign up.

The accreditation asks venues to ensure their staff are trained on how to support women who “Ask for Angela” — a discreet way for women to seek help in an uncomfortable or dangerous situation.

Cllr Aicha Less, cabinet member for communities and public protection and licensing, at Westminster Council said:  

“Everyone, especially women, have the right to feel safe. But unfortunately, the anti-social behaviour of some individuals can ruin a night out or someone’s experience of our city.  

“Being able to share details of Westminster’s accredited venues, where women and visitors can feel safe, is vital to fulfilling our Fairer Westminster commitment that safeguards residents and visitors when enjoying Westminster’s vibrant nightlife. 

“With more businesses joining the scheme, we can create a trusted network of venues where people feel safe, and staff can call out unwanted harassment,” she said.

The council will issue a certificate and digital logo to demonstrate that a venue has passed the requirements.

It is funded from a Home Office grant of £289,600 awarded to the local authority last year to deliver a package of measures to combat sexual harassment and improve women’s safety in the West End. It includes a behavioural change campaign, night safety walks, expansion of the Night Stars Service, and women’s safety training.

Piano Works in Soho is one of the first businesses to be accredited.

“We are always pleased to be involved in any initiative that helps our guests to feel safe and welcome,” said Tristan Moffat, operations director.

“Our musicians and entire teams are trained to spot unwelcome behaviour and we are delighted that our West End venue have been recognised and accredited by this excellent scheme. 

“We will certainly encourage our friends in other venues in Soho to join,” he said.

Businesses can apply by taking the assessment which is available on Westminster Council’s website.

Successful businesses are encouraged to display a sign on their venues to notify people of their night-time safety status and participation in the scheme.

An investigation in 2021 by the Metro newspaper found that many London venues were pledging to protect women’s safety but doing little about it in practice.

Westminster Council says that although the scheme is voluntary its certificate has to be renewed annually and there are random spot checks from the council’s City Inspectors to make sure venues are complying.

In neighbouring Camden the council’s statement of licensing policy has a set of women’s safety principles that it wants licensed premises to adopt. Some of its licensing panels are taking the decision to attach these principles as a condition on a new premises licence if an applicant does not volunteer to offer them.

Westminster City Council, Women’s Night Safety Accreditation.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2023/10/27/westminster-council-launches-night-time-safety-certificate-for-businesses/

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Westminster City Council has launched a consultation on its proposal to create an inclusive evening and night-time plan and is seeking the views of residents.

The council says it wants “our community to be safe, sustainable, inclusive, and accessible” and is inviting residents to join its Evening and Night-time Stakeholder Assembly.

A map has also been created where residents can express their view on particular locations in the city where they would like to see improvements, and there is a survey to complete.

Westminster has the largest evening and night time economy in the UK.

“The City of Westminster has more licensed premises than any other local authority in Britain; over 3,700,” states the council’s statement of licensing policy.

“These include nearly 500 pubs, bars and wine bars, over 1,000 restaurants licensed to serve alcohol, 56 theatres and 136-night clubs and dance venues, and 21 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (or Questioning), and Intersex (LGBTQI+) venues.”

And the number of licensed premises continues to increase. This can have impact on the people living in Westminster, particularly in the West End and Fitzrovia West.

“The West End Cumulative Impact Zone has been identified because the cumulative effect of the concentration of late night and drink led premises and/or night cafés has led to serious problems of disorder and/or public nuisance affecting residents, visitors and other businesses,” states the licensing policy.

“The extent of crime and disorder and public nuisance in the West End Cumulative Impact Zone arises from the number of people there late at night; a considerable number of them being intoxicated.

“Public services, including police, health and emergency, transport, environmental services (cleansing and refuse services) are placed under chronic strain by existing levels of activity, as are civic amenities and the quality of residential life.”

The policy also warns of the effect of increased licensed premises.

“The urban infrastructure cannot sustain any further growth in licensed premises that provide a significant risk of a variety of harmful outcomes. Over a period of three years (2017–2019) 45 percent of violent crimes, as well as over half of all robberies, thefts and drug offences in the city were recorded within the West End Cumulative Impact Zone. Additionally, 43 percent of ambulance call outs between that same period to the locations of licensed premises [fell] within this zone.

While most of Fitzrovia West is outside of the West End Cumulative Impact Zone, the area south of Mortimer Street and Goodge Street is within the West End Buffer Special Consideration Zone — an area designated due to crime, disorder and public nuisance incident rates that are above the borough average.

From now until the end of the year, the council wants to hear the views of its residents on its plan for the evening and night-time economy. Then it will develop and finalise its plan, before publishing the finished document sometime in the middle of 2024.

Westminster Council public consultation: Westminster After Dark — developing our first evening and night-time plan.

Update, 17 October 2023. Westminster Council is also consulting on its draft Cumulative Impact Assessment. Consultation closes on 5 November 2023 (now extended to 12 November for comments).

https://fitzrovianews.com/2023/10/02/westminster-council-seeks-views-on-developing-an-evening-and-night-time-plan/

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