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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Court backs Council's work to keep town centre shipshape
August 26, 2009 6:28 PM
• RICHMOND Council's policy on controlling drinking in Richmond town centre in order to keep the area clean and inviting for residents and visitors during the evenings has received a boost from magistrates, after a bar's application for extended licensing hours was refused permission.
The No8 Champagne Bar in Hill Rise, wanted to extend its opening hours, but was refused by the Council under its cumulative impact policy, which applies in Richmond town centre. This puts the onus on businesses to prove that extensions would not lead to extra late night noise or anti-social behaviour.
The business appealed to the court, but also failed to satisfy the magistrates who refused the extension to the licence and supported the Council's policy.
Cllr Geoff Acton, Richmond Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, said: "We know businesses are having to improve their services during the recession, and we will support this whenever possible, but we also have to remember people living nearby can have their evenings blighted by noisy revellers on their way home, who have had a few too many.
"It's always a challenge to strike the right balance between the interests of our local businesses and the needs of our residents. In this case the court's decision was the right one and I am grateful for that.
"We have an absolutely fantastic borough, with our own residents recognising it as the best place to live in the UK. But we cannot take this for granted and we work very hard with the police, businesses and our partners to make sure Richmond upon Thames remains a great place to live in and visit ."
The Council's Cumulative Impact Zone policy states that licences in Richmond town centre should not be extended unless the licensee can prove doing so would not add to existing nuisance or crime and disorder, including low-level anti-social behaviour in the area. In other areas of the borough, the presumption is that licences would be granted unless there were specific reasons not to.
In this case, the magistrates agreed with the Council that the applicants had not made the case for this and could depart from the Policy and that there had to be a balance between the significant number of licensed premises in the area and the large number of homes in close proximity to them.
Cllr Eleanor Stanier, chairman of the Council's Licensing Sub-Committee which considered the application, said: "This decision is a welcome result as it upholds our original decision as well as supporting the cumulative impact policy whilst ensuring the town centre is an enjoyable place to visit."
The business will still be able to operate under its existing licence which requires it to stop serving drinks at 11 pm or 10.30 pm on Sundays. The bar had applied to the Council to extend its drinks licence by an hour to midnight on Mondays to Thursdays and by three hours to 2 am Friday nights / Saturday mornings and Saturday night / Sunday morning, and by an hour to 11.30 pm on Sunday evenings. The Council turned down the application and the business appealed to Richmond Magistrates' Court, although it reduced the 2 am requests to 1 am on the day of the hearing.
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