More residents’ groups voice opposition to Camden’s proposed licensing and night-time policies

Residents groups have again hit out at Camden’s plans to boost the borough’s nightlife, ahead of a meeting of the council’s cabinet this week.

The Labour-run council last month published proposals to relax some licensing policies restricting the hours and locations in which venues like pubs and clubs can operate.

While the Night Time Industries Association has welcomed the plans, several local community groups spoke out in opposition, fearing increased noise and crime. Much of it has been expressed in the letters pages of the Camden New Journal.

Concerns are also understood to have been raised by the police, prompting the council to withdraw the draft policies. Critics of the plans believe they will come back in similar form, however.

Barbara Brownlee, CEO of social housing provider Soho Housing Association said her residents were “worried about the level of noise, the hundreds if not thousands of people streaming around their front doors being sick, kicking off and the rise in crime”.

The council had proposed extending Camden’s “framework hours” — the period when licensed venues are not generally expected to take extra steps to prevent crime and “public nuisance”, such as by ensuring “the orderly dispersal of customers”. For nightclubs, hours would be extended from midnight to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

The extended hours would apply to new licence applications, while existing venues would have to re-apply if they wished to operate longer within the expanded framework. Not all would necessarily get permission, as applications are judged on individual merit.

Brownlee said better ways of supporting the night economy would be more police, more street-cleaning, and better public transport at night. The plan’s several other opponents include the Bloomsbury Association, Seven Dials Trust, Covent Garden Community Association and Kentish Town Road Association.

Night Time Industries Association CEO Michael Kill praised the plan, calling it “a balanced approach to nightlife enhancement and community engagement”.

He added: “Extending framework hours for pubs, clubs, and fast food outlets fosters a vibrant nightlife economy while maintaining public safety.

“Concerns about noise and disturbances can be addressed through existing regulations and community feedback mechanisms. Camden’s progressive stance encourages economic growth and fosters a harmonious relationship between businesses and residents, ensuring a dynamic and inclusive urban environment for all.”

A Camden Council spokesman said it had “listened extensively” to feedback and is “still engaging with partners on our draft licensing policy”, with any final draft of the policy subject to 12 weeks’ consultation.

“Our updated policies are seeking to address the challenges faced by Camden’s evening and night-time economy. This includes the need to stop music and cultural venues closing due to economic challenges, ensure our high streets remain vibrant, and that we protect jobs — with a third of Camden’s employment in the evening economy.

“We also want to ensure we improve the safety and wellbeing of residents. This strategy seeks to achieve both goals.”

The council had also proposed scrapping “cumulative impact areas” — two zones in Seven Dials and Camden Town where the accumulated impact of existing late-night venues is considered when granting new licences in those neighbourhoods.

The proposals claimed there was “not enough evidence of cumulative impact from noise” in the zones, but residents’ groups believe they are an important feature of Camden’s licensing policies which should be retained.

Ahead of this week’s meeting of senior councillors the number of residents groups across the borough opposing the council’s plans has increased to 24.

In a letter published in the Camden New Journal last week, a coalition of 14 residents’ groups wrote: “Perhaps before starting this process Camden should have read the helpful guidance from the mayor’s night-time economy team.”

The mayor’s guidance states that a “balance must be struck between work, rest and play for London’s eight million residents. No matter what time we go to bed, we all need good sleep. Nothing we do must compromise that basic right.”

But Camden’s Evening and Night-Time Strategy “does not maintain this balance at all,” they wrote.

The coalition of 14 groups says, like the draft licensing policy before it, the Evening and Night-Time Strategy must now also be withdrawn.

“We ask that Councillor Danny Beales withdraws the strategy from consideration at [this] week’s cabinet to allow for the discussion and engagement with residents (which should have taken place already) to happen,” they say.

At tonight’s Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee yet another resident’s group has added its voice to criticism of the council.

Tricia Richards, CEO of Castlehaven Community Association, has submitted a statement to the committee to say that residents living on the north side of Camden Town “are already badly affected by the evening and night-time economy”.

She says that the citizens assembly for the Evening and Night-Time Economy (ENTE) in Camden put forward several ideas that “we would support and that would benefit our residents and area”.

“However, in reading the ENTE strategy being put to you this evening we are shocked that resident needs are being ignored and the focus is primarily on business and expansion,” she says.

Richards call on the committee to “recommend the ENTE Strategy be withdrawn until it can be reviewed with key local stakeholders and a revised document can be agreed on”.

Nine more residents groups have also signed a deputation statement to the Scrutiny Committee criticising the proposals, bringing the total to 24 residents’ groups now opposed to Camden’s licensing and night-time policies.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

This article was corrected at 8.15am on 27 February to state that 24, not 15 as we originally stated, residents’ groups are opposed.

Update, 6 March: Camden’s cabinet of senior councillors on 28 February adopted the Evening and Night-time Strategy, despite representations against it from residents groups.

Camden Council: Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee – Monday, 26 February 2024; Cabinet – Wednesday, 28 February 2024.