5 Zoning
51. Zoning, that is the concept of designating certain
areas as commercial, or residential, or varieties of either, was
not included in the Act. Creating zones theoretically means that
local authorities can restrict certain types of business to defined
areas, thus making licence applications easier to deal with. Zones
can also dictate different permissible opening hours. Nick Bish
of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, argued that
the omission of zones from the Act created difficulties when the
topic did appear to feature in the statutory guidance: "In
the Act, for example, there is no mention of stress zones or zoning
of any sort, whereas the guidance permits that matter to be addressed;
therefore there was a conflict between the two".[67]
52. Mr Kolvin, of the Institute of Licensing, was
critical of the omission of the zoning principle from legislation:
"There is a very serious problem at the
heart of the legislation. Parliament effectively was told that
a zoning experiment in Scotland had not worked and we needed to
get away from zoning, in other words, fixed hours. It was not
quite right, that was not how it had been in Scotland. The experiment
which had failed in Scotland was a different experiment of street
designation orders, where different streets were designated in
a different way. The Act will not deliver staggering: it will
deliver the opposite of staggering. By encouraging longer hours,
what is going to happen is one commercially-driven later hour
and it is going to be worse than the current system because it
is not going to be an hour which is clear".[68]
53. The Minister for Media and Tourism claimed that
the Act enabled local authorities to introduce zones themselves
to help determine their licensing approvals:
"Previously councils had very little ability
to refuse a licence, they were unable to say the area was already
saturated and they wanted to have the ability to have a presumption
that they will refuse licences. The Act, for the first time, allows
people to do that. I was in South Hams recently, for example,
and in Torquay they had brought in exactly that kind of cumulative
impact zone which allows them to limit the number of premises
which open and they have conditions which they are applying".[69]
54. The Network of Residents' Associations was not
happy that councils have the discretion to operate zones or not:
"In cities with a dense collection of licensed
premises, it has proved possible to include in the local Licensing
Policy a strongly worded policy on "cumulative impact"
related to certain areas. This has allowed Licensing Authorities
to respond to representations with firm policies so that adequate
restrictions to protect the environment can be imposed. It was
much easier to refuse extensions of hours and impose noise controls
on premises in areas of "cumulative impact". Where local
Licensing Policies have no such "cumulative impact"
policy, it has proved much more difficult for objectors to succeed
in restricting hours of closure".[70]
55. If the Government is happy for local authorities
to introduce their own zones, based on cumulative impact, it seems
contrary that they rejected the idea of zoning in the Act based
on the Scottish experience. The confusion between the Act and
the statutory guidance regarding the issue of zoning is unhelpful.
We recommend the Government clarify its position towards the
issue of zoning in the reviewed guidance, and make the right of
local authorities to create zones of cumulative impact explicit,
so that local authorities and licensees alike can understand the
aims of the Act in this respect.
67 Q 10 Back
68
Q 48 Back
69
Q 110 Back
70
Ev 24 Back
|
