West End Extra - Letters to the Editor: Working to keep West End quiet

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West End Extra - FORUM: Opinion in the WEE
Published: 2 November 2007

Working to keep West End quiet

• WESTMINSTER has more licensed premises than any other local authority in the UK. Many of them are found in the densely populated West End, which is also visited by an estimated million people everyday. This can, of course, also create problems for local residents (Forum, October 26).
Our licensing inspectors are out on the streets every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in the West End to monitor licensed premises. They also target specific “problem” premises and remind them of their legal and social responsibilities. Moreover, on Friday and Saturday nights environmental health officers join their licensing colleagues to monitor noise levels. These employees can immediately tackle any noise problems as they occur on the ground.
Until the Licensing Act came into force we could only tackle noise which was a “statutory nuisance” – that is to say noise above a certain level when heard from inside residents’ homes.
Now we are also able to do something about noise from outside premises if these persistently amount to a “public nuisance”.
Since the smoking ban came into force there has been increased concern about the noise from people drinking and/or smoking outside premises. We aren’t in a position to intervene there and then, but it is possible now for us to consider whether changes to the premises licence can stop the public nuisance occurring.
We warn the particular establishment and offer them the chance to rectify the situation, at which stage the majority of problems are resolved. If a premises continues to be a problem then we can, and do, take action against them by means of formal review of the licence by a sub-committee.
Andrew Ralph
Westminster Environmental Health Manager for Licensing

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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