Ban plan for binge boozers

Tuesday January 19, 2010

Boozy binge drinkers can expect a sobering wake-up call in Fulham town centre as Hammersmith & Fulham Council looks set to create the borough’s first ‘saturation zone’.

Residents have repeatedly complained about battered boozers fighting, being sick, and urinating in their streets and front gardens. But the council is poised to fight back by introducing a new ‘cumulative impact policy’ in the zone along with another special scheme that hits back at irresponsible drinkers.

Councillors met at a licensing committee meeting on January 14 where they unanimously supported the plans. It is expected that full council will also approve the plans at a meeting next week (January 27) and the policy would come into effect immediately.

It works by refusing to grant new licenses that would have a negative impact on the area which already has many pubs, clubs and bars. It will focus around Fulham town centre, which has seen some of the worst antisocial behaviour in the borough, particularly in the early hours of the morning on weekends.

Councillor Greg Smith said: “Our residents have had enough of drunken idiots vomiting in their gardens, wailing like banshees on their way home and even having sex in their streets at night. We are putting our foot down on this shocking behaviour.

“We are not saying we don’t want people to enjoy themselves, but what we are saying is that they don’t need to get smashed to have a good night out. They only end up spoiling things for residents who live nearby, for responsible drinkers who are having a quiet drink, and for themselves, as they could end up in hospital or jail.”

If residents or the police tell the licensing sub-committee that they believe a new licence will cause trouble in the area, then the potential licensee would have to explain how they would prevent that problem from happening in the first place.

Existing licences for premises within the zone would not be affected by the policy but applications to vary their licences would have to be made taking into account the new policy.

This, coupled with a new ‘banned from one, banned from all’ joint initiative between police and council, called ‘Behave or Be Banned’ – where landlords and police can ban antisocial drunks from all establishments that are Pubwatch members in Fulham Broadway – is expected to help reduce the number of drink-related incidents in the area.

Eleven Pubwatch members, including Belushi’s, The George and Fiesta Havana, have signed up to the agreement to ban antisocial drinkers from their pubs, if they have already been barred elsewhere. They also notify the police and the council when they make this decision, and it is up to the Pubwatch members to decide how long the punishment will last.

Safer Neighbourhoods Inspector for Fulham South, Penny Mills, said: “We have been listening to residents and they have made this their main policing priority for the last three years. Fulham Broadway is becoming an area residents can enjoy, and pass through without a negative impact on their lives. The scheme should be viewed as a positive thing for all.”

H&F Council carried out a consultation with 4,000 residents and businesses in the area during the summer months last year, and 73 per cent of people who took part gave their backing for the special policy.

Recent figures from the ambulance service show that in H&F, almost one in 10 incidents where an ambulance was called out, were alcohol-related. And a survey carried out by national charity Drinkaware reveals that a quarter (25%) of 18-24-year-olds have not known how they got home, nearly one third (31%) have blacked out, one in 10 (9%) have been in a fight and just under half (48%) have vomited due to drinking too much.
 
While the national debate about alcohol – from pricing to licensing hours – rages on, H&F Council is working hard to stamp out drink-related antisocial behaviour in the borough. It has already introduced controlled drinking areas (CDAs) and virtually halved the number of street drinkers in the borough with police receiving 574 calls related to drunks in 2008/09 compared to 1,109 in 2007/08.

The council has also clamped down on off-licences selling strong and cheap alcohol. Last January five stores were ordered to stop selling beer, lager or cider with an alcohol content of 5.5% or more.