LGA calls for changes to Home Office late night levy plans

Government plans for a late night levy are “a step in the right direction” but the proposed split of revenues between the police and local authorities fails to recognise councils’ contribution properly, the Local Government Association has claimed.

Calling for changes to the Home Office’s proposals, the LGA said the levy should adequately compensate councils for keeping nightlife areas clean and safe.

Under the existing plans, 70% of the fee will go to the police and the remainder to local authorities.

The Association argued that this division ignored councils’ role in “maintaining visible street patrols, cleaning up streets, and working with businesses to protect customers”.

It would also leave local authorities unable to invest in new schemes and improvements to high streets, the LGA said.

The Association called on the Home Office to let police and councils decide locally which types of premises should be required to pay the levy and how the money should be spent and shared.

National proposals to exempt eight different categories of pubs, restaurants and bed and breakfast accommodation might be appropriate for some areas of the country but not others, it suggested.

“Local authorities already receive complaints about these types of business and should be able to charge them accordingly if they are contributing to excessive noise, nuisance and drunken behaviour,” the LGA said.

The Association added that restrictions on how the money raised from nightclubs and bars could be spent, risked stifling local innovation.

The LGA pointed to council schemes such as the employment of taxi marshals, support for street pastors and improvements to street lighting.

Cllr Mehboob Khan, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “It’s entirely appropriate that bars and clubs should contribute towards the cost of cleaning up the inevitably messy aftermath of a big night out.

“The introduction of a Late Night Levy is a definite step in the right direction, but the current plans for how the money can be used risks taxpayers still being left to pick up the bill because it fails to recognise the significant contribution made by local authorities.”

Cllr Khan added: “Joint work between the police and councils is crucial and it will be vital that this is continued once elected Police and Crime Commissioners take office later this year.”