Islington poised to be first London borough to bring in late night levy

Islington Council will tomorrow night (27 February) decide whether to become the first London borough to give the green light to a late night levy in its area.

Under the proposals:

  • A levy would be applied across Islington to commence no earlier than 1 September 2014;
  • The late night supply period would be set from 00:01 to 06:00 to all premises licensed to sell alcohol;
  • New Year’s Eve exemptions to the levy would be granted to premises which are authorised to supply alcohol for consumption on the premises between 00:01 and 06:00 only on 1 January in every year;
  • Exemptions to the levy would be granted to premises which provide overnight accommodation and only serve alcohol between 00:01 and 06:00 to people who are staying at the premises;
  • A reduction in the levy of 30% would be granted to premises operating between 00:01 and 06:00 where the premises are members of and participate in a best practice scheme “which will, or is likely to, result in a reduction of alcohol-related crime and disorder between 00:01 and 06:00”;
  • The Police and Crime Commissioner would receive 70% of the net amount of the levy revenue (agreement having been reached that these funds will only be spent in Islington to address alcohol-related crime and disorder);
  • A Late Night Levy Board would be set up to decide the allocation process for the net levy revenue. The Board will include the Chair of Licensing Committee, the Executive Member for Community Safety and representatives of the licensing authority, the police and licence holders of premises operating between 00:01 and 06:00;
  • The Corporate Director of Environment and Regeneration would prepare an annual review of the operation and effect of the levy and report the outcome of the review to the Licensing Committee.

The report to the council meeting this week said that Islington has 1,328 premises selling alcohol, of which an estimated 457 would be liable to pay the levy if no exemptions and reductions were permitted.

The annual levy for premises in rateable value band D will be £1,365 (£2,730 if primarily/exclusively selling alcohol) and for those in band E it will be £1,493 (£4,440 if primarily/exclusively selling alcohol).

Based upon the current levels of licensed businesses the levy could generate up to £511,000 of income, the report said. “Depending upon the hours of operation, level of exemptions and number of businesses reducing hours this income could be as low as £212k. With 70% of the levy being paid to the police this would give the Council an income ranging between £63k to £153k which would need to be sufficient to cover the costs of administering the levy if the measure is going to be self-financing.”

Islington said the proposals for spending the levy were:

  • Employing a uniformed, accredited security organisation to patrol and respond to calls – three nights per week;
  • Funding a Police Sergeant to coordinate the night time economy response including managing the police licensing team, engaging with Pubwatches, leading on problems solving. This post will be operational and work on shifts with the licensing PCs and the Neighbourhood teams;
  • Providing a problem solving fund to respond to emerging issues and licenced premises holder’s concerns;
  • Hosting a Radio Watch scheme for levy premises;
  • Extending hours of operation of ASB Line from 4 a.m. to 6.30 a.m. so as to accept calls for the levy team;
  • Funding an additional CCTV Operator three nights per week to support the levy team and assist with the Radio Watch scheme.

Information on tomorrow’s meeting can be found here.

Islington received 338 online responses and 31 written responses to the consultation. Overall, 67% of the online responses and 10% of the written responses were in favour of the levy. Sixty six of the responses received were from licence holders “and they were generally opposed to the levy”.

Newcastle City Council was the first local authoritiy to approve the introduction of a late night levy in July 2013. It was followed by Cheltenham Borough Council in December last year.