Borough council consults on 'preferred option' of late night levy

The local authority said it favoured a levy following initial consultation with its licensing committee, its corporate management group, the Police and Crime Commissioner, the chief of police, the police and interested parties.

The consultation reveals that Woking’s intention, amongst other things, is to:

• Introduce the levy to all licenses that allow the sale of alcohol, on and off premises, after midnight on any day;
• Grant an exemption to the levy if a licence only allows alcohol sales beyond the levy threshold on New Year’s Eve;
• Set at 30% the maximum combined discount that it will grant from the levy for active membership of certain benchmark schemes such as Pubwatch, Clubwatch, Shopwatch, Offwatch and Best Bar None;
• Where a Pubwatch, Clubwatch, Shopwatch, Offwatch or similar recognised scheme is actively running in the borough, award holders of premises licenses that are members of such a scheme a 10% discount from the levy for each scheme (up to the maximum 30%). This is provided their premises has been represented at 60%, or greater, of meetings of each scheme claimed held in the year proceeding the date when the levy is due;
• Award, where a Best Bar None scheme or similar (but not Pubwatch) is actively running in the borough, holders of premises licenses that are members of such a scheme a 20% discount from the levy (provided this does not take the premises over the maximum 30%). This is also provided their premises has achieved Gold Accreditation in the scheme operating in the year proceeding the due date of the levy;
• Grant exemptions for certain types of venue including hotels, rural pubs, theatres, cinemas and members clubs;
• Exclude premises with overnight accommodation where alcohol sold between midnight and 6 am is only sold to residents for consumption on the premises;
• Retain 30% of the levy in a community fund to which bids can be made from relevant bodies. The remaining 70% will go to Surrey Police.

Woking’s consultation also contains questions on an Early Morning Restriction Order “to gain a balanced view of opinions”. 

A fresh consultation would have to be undertaken, should the current consultation lead to a change of view and an EMRO becoming the favoured option.

The consultation runs for 12 weeks until 23 August 2013. More information can be found here.