Policy DM23 Evening, leisure and late night uses
To enhance the vibrancy of the city centre and local and district centres, leisure uses, hospitality uses and late night entertainment uses will be permitted within the areas defined below and where they would not give rise to unacceptable amenity and environmental impacts which could not be overcome by the imposition of conditions. Where necessary, permission will be granted subject to conditions restricting hours of opening and/or removing permitted development rights to change to alternative uses in order to protect the amenity of surrounding occupants and the vitality and viability of the area generally and to minimise the potential for crime and disorder.
Leisure uses
Proposals for leisure and hospitality uses, other than late night activities, will be permitted within the city centre leisure area as defined on the Policies map, which for the purposes of the sequential test is the most preferable location for new leisure and hospitality uses. The sequential approach set out in policy DM18 will be used to determine applications for leisure uses outside the defined leisure area. Within the primary retail area, leisure uses will normally be restricted to upper floors and basements only.
Late night activities
Proposals for new late night entertainment uses will only be permitted within the defined Late Night Activity Zone. Where permission is required, residential and other noise-sensitive uses will not be permitted either within this area, or outside the area in premises where the impact of noise from late night entertainment uses (including direct impact from structural transmission) is shown to have an unacceptably harmful impact on living and/or working conditions for future occupants.
Supplementary text
23.1 Norwich has a good provision and wide choice of leisure facilities, including restaurants and bars, with the city centre having a strong draw across a wide area, both during the daytime and evenings. Some 20,000-25,000 people visit Norwich on weekend evenings to enjoy the opportunities provided by the evening and night-time economy.
23.2 The purpose of this policy is to assist in managing the evening and night-time economy and to encourage a diverse range of complementary leisure, evening and night-time uses which appeal to a wide range of ages and social groups. It must also ensure that development does not harm the character and function of the city centre and district and local centres, undermine their vitality and viability or lead to significant problems of crime, disorder and noise nuisance which would impact unacceptably on the amenity of those living and working in the area or threaten public safety and security. This is reflected in national policy which encourages safe and accessible environments where crime and disorder, and the fear of crime, do not undermine quality of life or community cohesion (NPPF paragraph 69).
23.3 The Norwich sub region retail and town centres study estimates that a substantial amount of space may be required for supporting service related uses, such as leisure and tourism. The study identifies a possible need for 3,000 sq. m of new café, restaurant and bar space to be provided by 2016 (based on a typical proportion of 15% of floorspace in mixed use retail schemes being devoted to such services). Although the post-2008 recession has curtailed the expansion of the retail sector to some extent, there remains significant impetus for development for new late night uses, diversification of pubs and bars into new formats and expansion of the leisure offer into additional areas of the centre.
23.4 The NPPF indicates that a sequential approach should be taken to the location of main town centre uses. This requires that the first preference for leisure and entertainment facilities should be city centre locations, followed by edge of centre and district and local centres. For the purposes of this policy the defined city centre leisure area should be taken as the most preferable location for focusing new facilities within the centre.
23.5 The strategic approach is set out in policy 11 of the JCS which states that the city centre’s role will be promoted by expanding the use of the city centre to all, in particular the early evening economy and extending leisure and hospitality uses across the centre with late night activities focused in identified areas. The Norwich city centre key diagram within the JCS includes an indicative map of the main leisure areas and the late night leisure areas. This policy provides additional detail and defines the city centre leisure area and late night activity zone on the Policies map. The boundaries of the late night activity zone have been modified from the previous local plan. This is in recognition of the expansion of late night uses over the past ten years further east along Prince of Wales Road and the shift in focus of parts of Upper King Street and Tombland away from late night uses to hospitality uses geared to the evening economy.
23.6 For the purposes of this policy ‘hospitality uses’ are defined as cafés and restaurants falling within the present class A3 of the Use Classes Order. They also include drinking establishments (Class A4) which do not routinely open beyond 12 midnight. This distinction is not hard and fast: a number of establishments such as licensed café bars may include aspects of both A3 and A4 as well as potentially offering various forms of public entertainment, but it will be a matter of judgement for the planning case officer whether a use is likely to be geared mainly to evening or late night customers and what its impacts are most likely to be.
23.7 ‘Leisure uses’ are defined as D2 uses which may either be focused on active indoor sport (e.g. gymnasiums and health clubs) or on passive public entertainment, such as cinemas and concert halls but also include theatres (which are sui generis uses and thus always require planning permission). The expectation of this policy is that in order to protect retail function, vitality and viability it will not usually be appropriate to locate these larger format leisure uses at ground floor level within the primary retail area, nor would it be practical in most circumstances to do so. There may however be scope to make use of underused upper floor or basement space and provide a dedicated entrance from street level, and this would not preclude proposals providing a mix of leisure and hospitality uses, for example including a ground floor café or shop in association with the upper floor use.
23.8 Late night activities are nightclubs, sexual entertainment venues and drinking establishments which routinely open beyond 12 midnight. It is acknowledged that many existing pubs and bars operate with late night licenses in locations outside the late night activity zone and, since many pubs pre-date the operation of the planning system and restrictive planning conditions on opening hours, their operations may be controllable only under licensing powers. However, the expectation is that any significant expansion of late night uses and new late night activities will generally only be permitted within the late night activity zone.
23.9 Norwich city council’s licensing policy sets out the council’s approach to licensing and its expectations for those involved in licensable activities. As is the case with licensing, planning conditions should be appropriate to the circumstances of each individual establishment and be attached on a case-by-case basis. Hours of opening will be dependent upon proximity to residential or other sensitive uses and any actual or potential threat of crime and disorder to the public, but within the late night activity zone, the expectation is that later opening can be accepted unless there are likely to be exceptional impacts on amenity.
23.10 This pressure for expansion of the evening and late night economy often has potential for conflict with existing uses and activities, particularly where new focuses of evening and late night use are established and routes between them may draw customers through predominantly residential areas. Because of the exceptional impact of late night noise and disturbance on potential future occupants of new development, residential and other noise sensitive uses will not be permitted either within the Late Night Activity Zone or in locations so close to it that these impacts could not be adequately mitigated by conditions such as requiring higher standards of soundproofing than would normally be necessary.
23.11 The council recognises that the issues involved are complex and will need to be managed carefully and responsibly. A coordinated approach to managing the late night economy is already in place through a dedicated licensing forum, involving close cooperation between the council’s planning, licensing and environmental health officers, pub and club operators, representatives of the local community and the police to ensure proper regulation and enforcement.
23.12 Local authorities have a statutory duty to minimise the potential for crime, disorder and public nuisance in their area. Given these requirements, Norfolk Constabulary currently advise that planning permissions for late night uses should be restricted by conditions. In accordance with this advice premises in the Late Night Activity Zone will not be permitted to open past 0400 hours on any day, given the constraints on additional police resources dedicated to the Late Night Activity Zone which results in the withdrawal of additional police cover at 0500 hours. Notwithstanding this, there will be instances where significantly earlier closing times are appropriate within the Late Night Activity Zone in order to protect the amenity of adjacent residential occupiers. Standing police advice is that premises outside the Late Night Activity Zone should not be permitted to open past midnight unless it can be clearly demonstrated that there would be no detrimental impact on the living conditions of nearby residents or that there is no potential threat of crime and disorder to the public.
23.13 The approach has been followed consistently for applications for new late night activities or proposals to vary planning conditions to extend opening hours. Such proposals will be dealt with flexibly on a case-by-case basis taking account of the particular nature of the use, the proximity of residential uses, the likely impacts on amenity or on crime and disorder, the extent to which there may be noise nuisance (and the scope to address this by condition) and the adequacy of management policies in place to ensure the safety and security of customers and staff.
23.14 Not all premises, particularly long established pubs, are subject to planning conditions on opening hours because the use itself may have pre-dated the need for planning permission. In these cases the council will continue to seek maximum consistency between opening hours applied through planning condition and those applied through licensing. Where a condition for opening hours differs from the licensing hours, the applicant must observe the earlier closing time.
23.15 Issues relating to the late night sale of alcohol and a late night levy on clubs and bars to help meet the cost of additional policing are not dealt with directly through planning, but may have implications for the practical application of this policy in terms of aligning planning and licensing conditions on opening hours.
23.16 To respond to future national policy changes which may affect the management of the evening and late night economy in Norwich, and to take account of its monitored impacts on particular areas of the city centre over the plan period, it is expected that additional guidance may become necessary to provide further detail on the evening and late night economy in support of this policy. This may either take the form of a supplementary planning document or technical code of practice guide for planning case officers, premises operators and others involved in the planning process.
References
- NPPF: Section 2: Ensuring the vitality of town centres; Section 8: Promoting healthy communities.
- National Planning Practice Guidance, CLG 2014: Ensuring the vitality of town centres; Health and well-being.
- JCS policy 8: Culture, leisure and entertainment.
- JCS policy 9: Strategy for growth in the Norwich Policy Area.
- JCS policy 11: Norwich city centre.
- Norwich sub region retail and town centres study, 2007.
- JCS City centre topic paper, November 2009.
- Retail and leisure topic paper, April 2013.
