Violent Crime Reduction Bill

moved AmendmentNo. 22: Page 14, line 29, after ““been”” insert ““persistent and repeated”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendments Nos. 22 to 25 deal with Clause 16, dealing with the designation of alcohol disorder zones. I am anxious that the local authority should not make such orders without an appreciation of a persistent and repeated problem. As the Bill stands, the local authority could designate an alcohol disorder zone if there has been a single instance of nuisance or annoyance. That is why I seek to include the words ““persistent and repeated””. On Amendment No. 23, for reasons I explained in relation to Amendment No. 1 and subsequent amendments, we would leave out the words ““or disorder””. Amendment No. 24 raises an important principle because an alcohol disorder zone can be imposed even though the nuisance, annoyance or disorder does not occur within the zone itself. The clause permits the imposition of an alcohol disorder zone if the nuisance or annoyance takes place near that locality. I find it difficult to understand why one would impose such a zone simply because of a disorder down the road. In Committee, the Minister said that there might be a problem at the taxi rank or the bus station, but that does not give any strength to the argument that an area containing licensed premises should have statutory charges imposed upon it to pay for policing not of that zone, but of the bus station, the taxi rank or somewhere adjacent to the zone, but not necessarily in it. I do not see why public houses and licensed premises should carry such a burden. If the boundaries of the zone are not defined, but rely on areas outside that zone, the charges imposed on the licensed premises are even more unfair, so I hope your Lordships will consider this amendment to remove the words ““or near””. Amendment No. 25 ensures that the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 have been fully used. It does so in order to prevent a local authority declaring an alcohol disorder zone, getting a charge and raising the money for the local police force and so on without using the existing provisions in the Licensing Act 2003. These amendments tighten the circumstances in which alcohol disorder zones are designated. I beg to move.