Consultation underway on late night licensing policy in Leeds

Leeds City Council is currently seeking views on proposed changes to its policy guiding decisions around licences for alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshments in areas across the city.

The council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, which sets out the principles for granting or renewing licences, needs to be reviewed every five years and its latest review is now underway.

The consultation which runs until Sunday 30 September seeks views primarily on the six cumulative impact areas in the city, where there are large numbers of licensed premises located close together.

In these designated areas it is the council’s policy to refuse applications for a new licence or variations to existing licences unless the applicant can demonstrate they will not add to the negative impact already being experienced.

After carrying out a cumulative impact assessment which included consulting local ward councillors in these areas as well as locality teams and considering crime statistics provided by West Yorkshire Police, the council is now proposing the following revisions:

• City centre – amend the cumulative impact boundary to focus on areas where the night time economy is the most active and add additional emphasis on operation during peak hours.
• Headingley – split the Headingley cumulative impact area into two. One area to be focused on North Lane and a second area focused round Hyde Park Road, Victoria Road and Cardigan Road but concentrating on late night refreshment and night time opening off-licences.
• Woodhouse Corridor, Chapel Allerton and Horsforth – cumulative impact areas to be removed and replaced with area-specific policies
• Armley – to continue unchanged.
• To introduce a new cumulative impact area in Harehills

The full details of these proposals can be seen at www.leeds.gov.uk/lpc. Further proposed changes include updating the latest facts and figures such as population statistics and local plans. The feedback from the consultation will be considered at a full council meeting by all members, with any approved changes to be implemented from January 2019.

Chair of Leeds City Council’s licensing committee Councillor Mary Harland said:

“The nighttime economy is very important to Leeds but it is of paramount importance we keep the balance right between offering late-night entertainment and food establishments and respecting the needs of our communities and tackling issues related to crime.

“These proposed changes to our policy are important for people to understand and consider, so we would encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation so we can make sure across our city we are getting that balance right.”

Anyone can respond to this consultation by emailing comments to entertainment.licensing@leeds.gov.uk. Responses can also be sent in writing to Entertainment Licensing, Leeds City Council, Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. The last date for comments is 30th September 2018.

For any further information or queries please contact entertainment licensing at the above address or by telephone on 0113 378 5029

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact:

Leeds City Council communications and marketing,

Email: communicationsteam@leeds.gov.uk

Tel: 0113 378 6007