Late Night Levy could be dropped by council

An extra charge on a city's late night bars and clubs could be dropped by a council.

Newcastle City Council's Late Night Levy has been in force since 2013, charging an annual fee of between £299 and £4,400 to businesses with a licence to sell alcohol between midnight and 06:00.

The money has been used to pay for public safety measures, but has been under review because of financial pressure on the hospitality trade.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), council chiefs have indicated they want the charge scrapped, as a verdict edges closer.

Outside London, Liverpool and Newcastle are the only councils still to charge a levy on late night venues.

Industry leaders have called for it to be abolished in order to help venues struggling with rising business rates, National Insurance contributions, energy bills, and other costs.

The levy has generated £3.46m since its introduction and has funded street marshals and CCTV cameras, as well as helping to pay for city centre support services like the Safe Haven and Shout Up sexual harassment training.

A council report warned that the wider circumstances are now "significantly different" to when the levy was first introduced, with a recent consultation finding that 93% of Newcastle's licensed trade support its abolition.

It also highlighted concerns over the disproportionate impact on premises trading only briefly after midnight or located outside Newcastle's major hotspots.

Members of the licensing committee will be asked to decide on Monday whether to end the levy, before the final decision is made at a full council meeting in October.

Liberal Democrat council leader Colin Ferguson said he wanted to see the charge revoked, saying it had put "disproportionate pressure" on some venues.

"This cabinet doesn't think it is fair that Newcastle is one of just two cities outside of London that expects hospitality venues to contribute towards policing and public safety initiatives," he said.

"We want to see the positive work in the city centre continuing, and we believe working with the Police and Crime Commissioner, chief constable and NE1 to ensure shared management and funding will support the safety of everyone, particularly women and girls.

"However, we need to ensure we do this without putting undue pressure on venues in our city and make sure we are doing everything we can to protect the hospitality offer Newcastle is famed for."

The council said that if the levy was revoked, an alternative system would be put in place to manage a fund specifically for safety measures in the night-time economy, with contributions from the local authority itself and the Newcastle Business Improvement District (BID) company NE1.

NE1 chief executive Stephen Patterson welcomed the council's "clear support" for repealing the levy, calling it "an important first step in giving the sector the support it urgently needs".

"The levy was of its time and much has changed in the twelve years since it was first introduced. Newcastle now remains a solitary outlier in placing this additional cost on its licensees," he said.

"We have something special in Newcastle, and it's fantastic to have that both recognised and supported."

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