Licence crackdown a success

Nov 20 2008 By Jack Abell

A council plan to cut down on the amount of alcohol licences given to premises in two areas has proved a success.

Last year Chiltern District Council (CDC) adopted a Special Saturation Policy for Chalfont St Peter and Amersham Old Town to be reviewed after 12 months, and the scheme has worked so well that it has been recommended to be implemented permanently.

At a meeting of the Licensing and Regulation Committee held in December last year, it was decided to create a rule whereby the council would refuse any applications for new premises licences or club premises, unless the person applying could prove that the licence they wanted would not have a "negative cumulative impact on one or more of the licensing objectives."

This was done to try and cut down on alcohol induced problems in both Amersham Old Town and Chalfont St Peter, and to ensure that the number of places allowed to sell alcohol was kept to a minimum and did not rise.

A report to the Licensing Committee, which recommends the plans be approved for permanent use, said: "To date, no applications for new premises licences or variations of existing premises licences have been received for these areas, the inference being that either there hasn't been a need or the saturation policy is having an impact in influencing the cumulative impact of the area."

The plans have been supported by Thames Valley Police, who say that they feel that the scheme has worked well over the last 12 months.

Sue Moffat, clerk to Chalfont St Peter parish council, said: "I think it is a very good that a cap has been placed on the amount of places selling alcohol in the village. We have got more than enough places selling it already so this is a good idea and I think it will be very good for the village in the long term."

It is now hoped that with this success, the Special Saturation Policy will be approved as a permanent scheme in both of the areas.

The decision will be made at a meeting of the Licensing and Regulation Committee to be held on Thursday, November 27.

For more Chalfont St Peter and Amersham news click on the place names.