Clause 12 - Power to impose charges on
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
6:45 pm
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim, DUP)
Alcohol disorder zones are an essential part of controlling this sort of behaviour. If we are to have such zones, there must be charges on people and penalties on those who operate within them. I have some sympathy with the point that the hon. Member for Woking made: licensed premises that conduct business well and do not encourage excessive drinking should not be subject to charges. I want some clarification about how it is possible to separate out the responsible premises from the irresponsible premises.
I can think of a number of areas in my constituency where there is a concentration of premises. Binge drinking often involves people moving from one set of premises to another, all of which, individually, may conduct their business in a reasonable and well-ordered fashion. However, the cumulative effect of young people and other drinkers moving from one pub to another, getting increasing levels of alcohol in their bodies, can create difficulties in that area.
I am trying to be helpful. How does one differentiate between the premises that have caused the problem and those that have not where there is a conglomeration of premises and where many people are attracted into the area for the purpose of having a drink, moving from one place to another and then perhaps engaging in the sort of behaviour that the Bill is designed to tackle? How will a local authority distinguish between those premises?
As has been pointed out, none of them will admit that they are the source of the problem and, indeed, all of them may be conducting their business in a reasonable way. But it is the cumulative effect of all of those premises together that causes the problem and leads to higher costs for the local authority, for which it will seek to be reimbursed, and leads also to problems for local people. I should be interested to hear how the hon. Member for Woking thinks that one can distinguish between one and the other.