Councillor hails ‘phenomenal’ crackdown on Harehills off licences and street drinking

A Harehills councillor has said ‘massive’ progress is being made to tackle issues with street drinking and rogue off licences in the area.

Councillor Salma Arif (Lab) has hailed efforts to review existing off licences in the area, which has seen ten businesses have their licences revoked.

Speaking on social media, Cllr Arif said that when she was first elected in 2016 many residents were concerned about the street drinking culture in Harehills, and the issues with anti-social behaviour due to so many off licences in such a concentrated area.

Councillors – backed by the support of local residents – were able to lobby Leeds City Council for a ‘cumulative impact policy’ to be introduced, which makes it difficult for new off licences to be granted.

“Since that came into effect in 2018, we have been able to successfully stop five new off licences opening,” said Cllr Arif. “That’s been a massive success.”

In addition Cllr Arif said that part of the Community Harehills Project has seen police submit reviews to the council because existing off licences were not operating under licensing conditions.

“They’ve been able to find counterfeit cigarettes and vapes and various illegal activity that has taken place,” she said.

“Out of those reviews that have gone before the council’s licensing sub-committee, in Harehills alone we have revoked ten licences, which has just been a phenomenal effort.

“I say that because on average across the city in Leeds, just 2.3 reviews are submitted in a year, and we’ve been able to submit a total of 15 reviews.

“It’s been a massive effort from all parties, [including] local residents for their input and intelligence, and obviously as ward councillors we have been going to the sub-committee to present evidence as well.

“This is a really good news story that I wanted to share with local residents. It’s a start, isn’t it? And we will continue to ensure that off licences operating illegally or not adhering to their licensing conditions are submitted for review.

“But, for now, this is fantastic news.”