Leaflet Licensing: regulation gone mad?

Would he fire Ann John?

Despite the Council's clarification of their understanding of 'political purposes' I am still very sceptical about their proposed leaflet licensing system and whether they will be able to enforce it.  For those of you who have not been able (or could not face) downloading the document I print below the proposed Licence Conditions for Distribution of Free Literature.  It made me feel sorry for the poor small businesses trying to make a crust faced with this tangle of regulation.

All licences will be subject to the following standard conditions. Licences may also be subject to specific conditions based upon the application details.

1. All staff engaged in the distribution of free literature shall wear an authorisation badge with photograph of the distributor issued by Brent Council bearing the licence number and showing the name, address and contact telephone number of the licence holder so that it is clearly visible.

2. The above authorisation shall be produced on demand to an authorised officer of the Council or other relevant agency, such as the police.

3. All staff engaged in the distribution of free literature shall wear a hi-visibility safety tabard provided by the licence holder and marked ‘Authorised Distributor’.

4. No free literature shall be left unattended by staff for the general public to take at their discretion.

5. All places in the vicinity of free literature distribution, must be kept free of discarded literature so that the area does not fall below grade B of the Government’s Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse at any time. If an authorised officer of the council judges that the standard has been breached as a consequence of the distribution of free materials, his judgement will be definitive at the time. Challenges to that assessment will only be accepted

through the formal appeal process.

6. The free literature must bear the name and address of the licence holder who is responsible for its distribution unless exemptions have been agreed by the Council.

7. Applications for consent must be made not less than 14 days before the required date for the distribution of free literature.

8. Licences will be subject to the payment of a fee to be paid at the time of the application.

9. No free literature shall be placed on, attached to, affixed to vehicles, buildings, street furniture, telephone boxes or structures.

10. No free literature which encourages irresponsible consumption of alcohol can be distributed. This includes examples of: offering free alcoholic drinks; drink vouches; discounted drink offers; all in bar offers; unduly cheap sales; happy hours and similar promotions. It is recommended that responsible promotions for alcohol carry the Drink Aware message.

11. If an authorised officer requests the consented staff to pick up discarded literature, the staff member shall do so immediately.

12. If litter is created which is in need of urgent clean up, the licence holder will be liable for the full cost of the necessary street cleaning operation.

Can you imagine the contestants on the Apprentice trying to tackle their assignments in Brent?

Seriously, have the Council the capacity and the police the time, to enforce this?

Now Brent Council says campaigns would be exempted from Leaflet Licence scheme

Following my urgent enquiry about the proposed controls on leafleting in designated areas of the borough I have received a clarification from Michael Read, Assistant Director Environment and Protection, for Brent Council. I had asked: Could you clarify that for 'political purposes' would cover groups giving out literature with 'political'  (but non-party political) content such as anti-cuts campaigns, library campaigns etc -  so they would be exempted.

He says:

I am sorry for the delay in replying.  The exemptions including that for political purposes are not at the Council’s discretion.  They are included in the primary legislation which says:

‘(4)Nothing in this paragraph applies to the distribution of printed matter—

(a)by or on behalf of a charity within the meaning of the Charities Act 1993, where the printed matter relates to or is intended for the benefit of the charity;

(b)where the distribution is for political purposes or for the purposes of a religion or belief.’

Whilst the interpretation of the wording would ultimately be a matter for the courts, the council’s view is that the kind of issues you mention would fall within the definition of “political purposes”, would benefit from the exemption and would not need a licence.

The Brent Council press office had told the Willesden and Brent Times that the exemption applied only to 'charities, religious organisations or political parties'  (my emphasis)

This still leaves the issue of small businesses wanting to leaflet a shopping street to drum up business, such as the Windows on Willesden shops that the Council have publicised. As a Green I want to support small local businesses and recognise that the costs of a licence could be prohibitive for such start-up businesses.

Yes, litter is a problem, but so is maintaining the vibrancy of our streets and our local culture. As it is still not clear how these proposals would be enforced and by whom, I would suggest that the whole thing should be dropped.

Brent to charge for licenced leaflet distribution in designated streets

Brent Council is seeking approval for new powers to restrict the distribution of leaflets, flyers, free newspapers and other materials on Brent's streets ahead of the Olympics.

They see this as reducing litter and nuisance and state that  it does not include materials promoting charities or for religious or political purposes.  I can see that there may be problems of definition here.

There are three parts to the plans:

1. Designating particular areas or streets where it will apply
2. A licensing process with a list of charges
3. An enforcement system.

1. The proposed designated areas are:

Kilburn/Cricklewood – Kilburn High Road, Shoot-Up Hill, Cricklewood Broadway, Willesden Lane

Willesden/Harlesden – High Road (Willesden), Walm Lane, Craven Park Road, High Street (Harlesden), Dudden Hill Lane, Station Road (Harlesden).

Wembley – Bridge Road, Wembley Hill Road, Wembley Park Drive, Park Lane, Empire Way, South Way, Rutherford Way, Engineers Way, Olympic Way, Fulton Road, Brook Avenue, Great Central Way, First

Way, Fourth Way, Fifth Way, High Road, Harrow Road, St John’s Road, Lancelot Road, Ealing Road, Ecclestone Place, London Road, Dagmar Avenue, Linden Avenue, Mostyn Avenue

Kingsbury/Kenton/Edgware – Kenton Road, Kingsbury Road, Edgware Road

2. The licences will be subject to:

 

1. An application fee of £175 to cover administrative and part enforcement cost;
2. A £75 re-submission fee will be applied to cover administrative cost.
3. A discount of £25 will be applied to applicants that apply and pay online.
4. The discount is applicable to both applications and resubmissions
5. A fee for each distributor employed for each day of £75 except where the distribution takes place after 1800 hours or before 0800 hours where the fee will be £100 per distributor per day, or for Sundays and bank holidays where the fee will be £165 per distributor per day. 

The licence may be limited by:

 

1. Reference to the material to be distributed;
2. Reference to a particular period, or particular times or dates;
3. .Reference to any part of the designated area/road; or particular distribution

3. Enforcement

It will be a criminal offence to distribute materials in designated areas without a licence and material can be seized. The definition of distribution includes on vehicles and in telephone boxes. Fines will not exceed £2,500.  However it is unclear how, and by whom, this new law would be enforced and the alcohol ban enforcement problem is not a good precedent. 

The proposal will be discussed at the Council Executive on Monday.