Council to extend tightly regulated licensing zone

Brighton and Hove City Council are to expand the Cumulative Impact Zone, which places tighter restrictions on premises seeking new alcohol licences in the city.

The current CIA is made up of much of the Lanes and the centre of Brighton, where the council has increased powers to refuse new licences where it is felt the area has already reached saturation point in terms of licensed premises.

A consultation carried out by the council found that 83% of residents were in favour of the CIA being enlarged which is likely to see the inclusion of North Laine and the Western Road area of Hove.

The so-called Special Stress Areas, where the licensing situation is closely monitored, is also set to be expanded to take in much of the city, from Holland Road in the West to Freshfield Road in the east, as well as the London Road area.

The changes are set to be passed at the council’s licensing committee meeting on 17th November.

Ahead of the meeting, Councillor Lizzie Deane, chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Licensing Committee, said: “The aim of the consultation was to give everyone interested an opportunity to have their say on this issue. We have listened to the concerns of local residents, who have made it very clear they have had enough of living with the effects of anti-social behaviour and noise since licensing hours were relaxed, and we have listened to the views of licensees and businesses, who we recognise play an important part in the economy of the city.

“It is all about striking a balance and the proposals to extend the Cumulative Impact Area, and adopt a more rigorous decision making process, should strengthen protection for residents and also protect our existing local licensed premises at a difficult economic time.

“In the Cumulative Impact Area any new applications for pubs, clubs and off licences would be refused if an objection is received, unless the applicant can show exceptional circumstances to depart from this policy. Existing licensed premises would not be affected.”

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on November 14, 2011. Filed under Brunswick & Adelaide,Central Hove,Council News,Regency,St Peter’s & North Laine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry