Excerpt of Tower Hamlets Council meeting held on 22 October 2024 (AI Generated Summary).
The Licensing Committee met to note the proposed changes to Tower Hamlets’ Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) policy, which is due to be considered by full council on 20 November 2024. The new policy retains the existing CIA in Brick Lane and expands it slightly to the south east, but it removes the existing CIA in Bethnal Green.
Cumulative Impact Assessment Policy 2024-27
The meeting was to consider a report on the Council’s proposed new Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) policy for 2024-27
CIAs are areas where the council has decided that there is already a high concentration of licensed premises. When considering new applications for licences, or variations to existing licences, the council must, by law, consider whether they would add to the problems already being experienced as a result of the high number of licensed premises in these areas. This means that applicants have to work harder to demonstrate that they would not add to the cumulative impact of licensed premises in a CIA.
The new policy keeps the existing Brick Lane CIA, but expands it slightly south eastwards to cover more of the area around Ailsa Wharf. The new policy removes the existing CIA in Bethnal Green.
Councillors were told that these proposals were supported by the evidence, with data from the Metropolitan Police, the London Ambulance Service, and from complaints about licensed premises all showing a greater concentration of issues in Brick Lane than in Bethnal Green.
Brick Lane
Councillor Peter Golds asked if any consideration had been given to expanding the Brick Lane CIA northwards into Weavers Ward. Mr Tom Lewis, the Service Manager for Licensing, said that there had been some calls to expand the zone in this way, and that the council had previously considered extending the CIA to cover more of the Columbia Road area in 2020. However, he said that there was not sufficient evidence to support the inclusion of this area in the CIA. This is explained in the report at paragraphs 5.20 to 5.56.
Bethnal Green
Councillor Golds noted that although 40% of respondents to the council’s recent consultation on the new CIA policy supported the removal of the Bethnal Green CIA, 47% of respondents supported either retaining it, or expanding it. He asked if this meant that there was support for retaining the Bethnal Green CIA. Mr Lewis responded by saying that although the views expressed during consultation were taken into account, the main consideration for the council was the evidence of crime, disorder, and nuisance in the area, and he reiterated that the available evidence did not support the retention of the CIA.
Hackney Wick and Fish Island
Councillor Abdi Mohammed asked what consideration had been given to the possibility of introducing a CIA in Hackney Wick, which borders Tower Hamlets, or the adjacent Fish Island, which is partly in Tower Hamlets. He noted that although a recent Environmental Impact Assessment in Hackney Wick had concluded that a CIA was not necessary, the area was a growing night-time economy hotspot, and was already subject to additional council and police attention because of it. He expressed concern that because the area straddles three boroughs (Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham) it was possible for issues to fall between the cracks. He asked if the council could liaise with its counterparts in the other boroughs to try to better understand the issues and whether a more coordinated approach was needed. Mr Lewis acknowledged that the area was changing rapidly and said that although Tower Hamlets did not routinely share data with other boroughs, he was willing to contact the Licensing Teams in both Hackney and Newham to see if they could provide any relevant information.
Framework Hours
Councillor Mohammed also asked Mr Lewis for his assessment of how effective the council’s policy on framework hours had been in regulating the night-time economy.
The licensing act requires licensing authorities to publish a statement of their policy on framework hours. Framework hours are the times when the authority would normally expect licensed premises to stop selling alcohol. However, they are a guide only, and are not a set of fixed rules.
Mr Lewis said that although framework hours were useful in providing guidance to both applicants and the council, the fact that they are not a set of fixed rules means that they can be difficult to rely on. He did note however that since 2020 the council’s own licensing policy had contained a presumption that outside areas at licensed premises should close by 9pm, which made it easier for the council to control licensed activities.
The effectiveness of CIAs
Councillor Mina Ali asked Mr Lewis to provide examples of where the CIA had been used to prevent the granting of licences. She noted that in her experience the existence of a CIA had not always been enough to convince applicants to either amend, or withdraw, their applications. Mr Lewis acknowledged this, but said that the main effect of the CIA policy was to shift the burden of proof from the objector to the applicant. Mr Jonathan Melnick of Legal Services explained that the effect of the CIA is to introduce a presumption against granting licences in the designated areas. However, he stressed that it does not mean that applications can, or should, be refused automatically. He said that applicants can, and do, overcome this presumption by demonstrating that their business will not add to the cumulative impact of licensed premises in the area. In practice this is often achieved by ensuring that the premises will be primarily food-led, or that they will operate for reduced hours, or with a greater emphasis on off-sales.
Councillor Golds concluded the discussion by reminding the committee that they will have a further opportunity to discuss the policy before it is voted on at full council on 20 November 2024.
This summary is provided by Open Council, which uses AI-generated summaries to ensure that journalism fulfils its role in informing the public of the activities of government.
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