The Council’s Cumulative Impact Policy for Licensing Applications

West Suffolk Council has been reviewing its Licensing Policy document and  consulted the public recently as to whether the area affected by the Policy should be amended.

Unfortunately the Cumulative Assessment Area policy has not been renewed. Thank you to the residents who managed to complete the CIA survey. The CAA recognises that, because of the survey design, some residents were unable to take part. We submitted a response in support of the CIP on behalf of our 357 members and it seems it was counted as one response. The relevant information from West Suffolk Council is below.

Cumulative Impact Assessment areas
(Statement from West Suffolk Council)
This licensing policy only applied to Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket town centres. A CIA policy is appropriate where a high density of licensed premises or a pattern of extended opening hours is having a detrimental effect on the local community.  In these situations, a CIA policy could be used to help to restrict the number of new licensed premises or the extension of licensing hours in a specified area. This means if anyone wished to either extend the licensing hours of an existing business or open a new licensed business such as a pub, restaurant or an off-licence, the CIA is one of the ways in which they could be challenged as to the measures they would put in place to ensure their customers didn’t add to existing problems of crime, disorder, health issues or anti-social behaviour in the area.

It is important to emphasise that due to changes in the law, CIAs can only be renewed if there’s evidence that they are still required. However, the absence of a CIA does not prevent any responsible authority, or other person making representations on a new application or variation of a licence on the grounds that the premises will give rise to a detrimental cumulative impact.

We recognise that for any residents living in or nearby to Bury St Edmunds or Newmarket town centre, this is likely to be an emotive issue. We received nine responses from the public consultation. All the matters raised related to Bury St Edmunds. While it is apparent, that there are some problems of noise, disturbance and criminal damage connected with a small number of specific premises in Bury St Edmunds, this is not sufficient evidence to justify retaining a CIA policy because it is not directly connected to the volume of licensed premises and instead relates to the management of individual premises.

Moving forwards, we want to work alongside our partners, to tackle the issues that have been raised around specific premises using a range of approaches and we would like you to report these to us so we can look to undertake enforcement action as appropriate.

The best way to report these issues relating to licensed premises is to email licensing@westsuffolk.gov.uk or report to us online at https://westsuffolk-self.achieveservice.com/service/West_Suffolk_Council_enquiry_form or phone our customer services team on 01284 763233.

We will, however, keep matters under review – should evidence present itself at a later date to suggest a CIA is required, we can re-consult and reintroduce it. In the meantime, we will look to address issues reported to us through appropriate enforcement as well as use of the town centre PSPOs to directly address issues of anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Donna Higgins, Cabinet Member for Families and Communities
Cllr Ian Shipp, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture
Cllr Gerald Kelly, Cabinet Member for Governance, Regulatory and Environment