Knightswood/ Northtemplar Community
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Mark Clark Knightswood/ 989 Crow Road (APPENDIX 3) Anniesland Glasgow NorthTemplar G13 1JP Community Council 28 August, 2009 Representation number : 855 Part: Part 3: Devt Policies and Design Guidance Section: Policies-Retail and Commercial Leisure Page 88 Para/Policy: SC 11 Policy Title: Food and Drink Uses Dear Sir or Madam: This representation has come about due to a combination of factors. One is the trend in the hospitality industry towards forms of horizontal integration expressed in an increasing demand for composite or hybrid uses incorporating significant elements of Class 11 leisure use with public house and restaurant uses. Another relates to changes in licensing legislation produced by the implementation of the licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 which replaced the previous system of 7 categories of licence with 2 types of licence, a premises licence and a personal licence. These shifts have occurred at the same time as changes in the nature of work, where the clear division between the bustle of the working day and the relative quiet of the evening hours is much reduced. Many people work shifts or work at the weekend and shops are routinely open in the evenings and on Sundays with 24-hour opening becoming much more common. This, coupled with the absolute and relative expansion of the service sector, increased leisure time and rising levels of disposable income means that City streets are busy to a much later hour, not only in the city centre but also in commercial areas across the City , and it is the late-night use of these very commercial areas which causes members of our community council so much concern. Our principal area of focus is the development of the hospitality industry in Glasgow. The hospitality industry is a collective term for a number of industries. There is the food and drink industry, the hotel industry and the leisure industry. What differentiates the parts of the hospitality industry is The Use Classes Order. For planning purposes, The use classes order classifies Food and Drink uses as Class 3. Hotels and hostels are Class 7 and assembly and leisure uses Class 11. Public houses are sui generis.1 With a few exceptions, what the differentiated parts of the hospitality industry have in common is that they are all licensed premises. What these uses also have in common is that they are all classified as ‘Bad Neighbour Developments’ in Schedule 2 of the General Development Order.2 Those uses not listed in name (such as hotels ) are covered by section 15 of the schedule which applies to any land use which causes activity and noise between the hours of 8pm and 8am. These uses are considered to potentially have a significant and possibly adverse 1 Appendix 1 2 Appendix 2 z Page 2 August 28, 2009 effect on amenity. The hospitality industry in general then, can be said to classified as having the potential to injure amenity 3 The extent to which the hospitality industry has the capacity to be injurious to amenity is determined by four factors. The size of premises, their location, their degree of concentration and their hours of operation. If we examine the economic forces at work within the hospitality industry we firstly find the trend of expansion. We also find accumulation driving a trend towards larger premises. Modern forms of corporate finance accelerate those trends. What we also find is a tendency towards horizontal integration expressed in an increasing demand for composite or hybrid uses incorporating Class 11 leisure use with public house and Class 3 restaurant uses. Public houses which combine with restaurants diversify the business and increase the output under a given overhead. This raises the rate of profit by spreading costs over a larger output. If we then add a class 11 use such as a night-club, the working day is extended both absolutely and relatively in relation to costs. This again raises the rate of profit for the integrated business and gives it a competitive advantage over un-combined operators. This reinforces the trend towards capital concentration and horizontal integration in the hospitality industry. The same process can happening in reverse. A Night-club for example may open in the evening for concerts, perhaps adding a restaurant use for afternoons. The process and results are the same. Hybrid venues. The hospitality industry can therefore at any one time take a number of forms but its movement is always towards a universalised form, that of the hybrid venue. The hospitality industry does not exist in a vacuum. Over the past decade or two planning policy has guided the hospitality industry to our town centres. If we examine how these and similar forces have affected our town centres we find that commercial changes have included extensions to shop hours and a move towards 7-day a week shopping. There has been a trend towards extended opening hours for leisure uses, a growth in eating out and a growth in the number of restaurants. A move by offices away from traditional buildings and a decline in the number of bank outlets has created opportunities for conversion to pubs and clubs. In addition, larger centres have experienced moves towards 24-hour use.4 The combined impact of these trends is to promote the absolute and relative growth of the hospitality sector within our town centres as well as intensifying their use. The impact of the hospitality industry on the amenity of our town centres and surrounding areas is therefore all the more amplified. The parameters within which the hospitality industry has to operate are set by a number of factors. In the first place both food and drink uses and commercial leisure facilities over a certain size are compelled to locate in particular areas by the shopping and commercial policies contained in the city plan. Food and drink uses in particular have the added constraint of having their hours of operation controlled by the same shopping and commercial policies. In so far as premises are licensed, they also have parameters set by national licensing legislation and local licensing policy. If we combine our understanding of the economic forces at work within the hospitality industry, with the parameters set by planning policy, licensing legislation and licensing policy, we can get an idea of the manner in which the sector will develop over the period covered by the City Plan. We can also gain an understanding of how the development of the industry will in turn affect our City. In so far as what we are examining relates to the operating hours of the food and drink industry we must examine any policies within City Plans 1 and 2 relating to food and drink. Since what we are examining also relates to the location of both the food and drink industry and Class 11 Assembly and Leisure uses across the city we must examine the policies within City Plan’s 1 and 2 that relate to their location. Since what we are examining also relates to change we must also compare how the changes in parameters set for the hospitality industry between City Plans one and two will affect the nature of the development of the hospitality industry. Finally, we must then examine how licensing 3 Scottish Planning Law and Procedure, p197 4 Pan 56 para 6 z Page 3 August 28, 2009 legislation and policy shape the development of the hospitality industry. Only once we have sufficient a picture of the future development of the hospitality industry and its potential impact on the city will we be able to formulate the proper policy intervention. Food and Drink Opening Hours The food and drink policy in City Plan 1 is Policy SC9. Policy SC 9 dealt primarily with issues of amenity arising from the nature of the food and drink industry and aimed to strike ‘’a balance between the encouragement of uses that make the city more vibrant and the need to preserve a reasonable level of amenity for adjoining occupiers.’’ The policy, which covered hot food shops, cafes, restaurants and public houses set the closing hours of all such premises as between 2300hours and 2400hours Sunday To Thursday and between 2300hours and 0100hours Friday and Saturday. Permission for opening hours beyond that would only be granted where it could be shown that the street had a higher than usual night time noise level due to traffic and pedestrian flows in the early hours of the morning and the existence of other late night/early morning uses in the immediate proximity of the site. In cases of hybrid or composite uses incorporating food and drink uses with significant elements of Class 1 Retailing or Class 2 Services , the accompanying technical note was used to clarify the criteria with which the council used in differentiating one use from another ( ostensibly based on floor-space ). Where class 11 uses occurred in combination with food and drink uses, (such as bar/night-club/restaurants) no criteria were defined with which to differentiate one use from another for the purposes of determining opening hours. The food and drink policy in City Plan 2 is Policy SC11. The stated aim of Policy SC 11 is ‘’to guide the location of food and drink uses, taking into account the local problems which can arise from a concentration of such uses.’’ Policy SC11 covers Food and Drink uses as well as public houses and hot food shops, and sets their closing hours as between 20 00 hours and 24 00 hours Sunday to Thursday and 20 00hours and 01 00 hours Friday and Saturday.