New licensing rules don't deal with noise nuisance properly, claims aggrieved Cookham man

RBWM’s new licensing policy – outlining rules for pubs, bars and live music events – has been blasted as ‘worthless’ by one angry resident.

Licensing conditions in RBWM are updated every five years The updated policy seeks to make venues safer for ‘everyone, particularly women, young people and vulnerable individuals’.

New aspects include:

• Observing Martyn’s Law, which requires venues/organisers to assess the risk of a terrorist attack, put safety plans in place and train staff to respond effectively to threats
• Promoting the Ask for Angela safeguarding initiative, whereby people who feel unsafe can use this code phrase to seek help from staff
• Anti drink-spiking guidance, including expectations on training staff to recognise signs of spiking, provide safe spaces for those affected and consider security upgrades such as tamper-evident drink lids.

The updated policy went out to public consultation but only received 31 responses – which is ‘not very good’, acknowledged Greg Nelson, RBWM’s trading standards and licensing manager, at a licensing panel meeting on Monday (July 7).

One person showed up to express his disquiet – Paul Strzelecki, a Cookham man known for combing through and critiquing council policy documents, including the Borough Local Plan.

“The policy is not fit for purpose. It’s not robust on several levels,” he said.

He branded parts of it as ‘worthless’ and simply a ‘rehash’ of what has been in place before, when what is needed is ‘a radical review’ in his opinion.

Mr Strzelecki felt there was not enough focus on noise nuisance, with large events causing significant disturbance, including from the dismantling of stages and suchlike. He has personally suffered as a result of this, he said.

He also criticised the consultation process, which he said fetched ‘one-word responses’ from a few ‘anonymous folks’ who had not been properly engaged.

Responding, Mr Nelson highlighted that there are limits to what licensing conditions can do – they do not cover noise from stages being dismantled.

However, too much is still ‘unacceptable’ and if a licensee is unwilling to mitigate it, that could count against them when their licence comes up for review.

Councillors on the panel also echoed concerns over the lack of public input and the role of parish councils.

Parish councils are not statutory consultees – meaning RBWM is not obliged to consult or notify them on licensing matters.

But Cllr Mandy Brar (Lib Dem, Bisham and Cookham) questioned this, given they are the ‘eyes and ears’ for the community.

Mr Nelson acknowledged their importance and agreed they should be included in future consultations nonetheless.

As for the low level of public response, Mr Nelson said he did not honestly believe further consultation would help increase engagement.

The licensing policy must be updated every five years, but RBWM can make changes before that if it sees fit.

Next steps involve taking the policy to full council in September/October. There, all councillors will vote for or against adopting it in the new year.

Members of the panel voted in favour of taking this step. Cllr Jack Douglas (Lib Dem, St Mary’s) the new policy was a ‘clear improvement’ on the old one.