FEARS of drunkeness, loud music late at night and an increase in drinking and driving were due to be aired yesterday (Thursday), at a Waverley Council hearing to decide applications under the controversial new licensing laws. The council's licensing committee was due to determine a licensing application from The Bat and Ball freehouse at Boundstone, which is seeking to extend its pemitted hours to 1-30 am on up to 10 occasions a year, and for a 45-minute extension of "drinking up time" at the end of each day. In the semi-rural residential backwater, where the pub is reached down a single track lane, residents have reacted with horror to the proposals for longer hours, particularly as the garden and patio area is involved in the extension. Nineteen letters of objection were received to the application, which also seeks permission for occasional live and recorded music on Sundays and special days, both indoors and outdoors. One objector wrote: "We are very near neighbours of the pub and, on nights when there is live music at the pub, it is not possible to go to bed until the pub has closed." The possibility of not being able to go to bed until after 2 am filled them "with absolute horror", they continued. "The opening hours of the pub as it is are just tolerable (including special events such as their beer festival which effectively wipes out an entire weekend of our lives). Please don't make our lives an absolute misery." Another resident suggested there was already a "drink and drive problem", there being no public transport from Boundstone at that time of night and taxis being reluctant to drive down Upper Bourne Lane, which is heavily potholed. Extended hours, they felt, would exacerbate the problem. Fears were expressed of bringing "a different type of drinker" to the pub, exacerbating existing parking problems and the effect on property values. The pub was saved from demolition and replacement by three houses a few years ago, when planners refused consent because it was considered a community facility. An application by The Crown at Badshot Lea for extensions under the new legislation was also due to be considered by the licensing committee yesterday and had also drawn fears of sleepless nights. The Crown is seeking a new licence including the extension of the hours when alcohol is sold up to 1 am on Mondays to Thursdays and 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Three residents have written objecting, one of them asserting that at the weekends the extension would mean the area would not be quiet until 3 am. The assistant Chief Constable of Surrey, Mark Rowley, this week expressed the concerns of the county's police force about the effect on society of later licensing hours. "There are many good parts of the Licensing Act which Surrey Police fully supports and we look forward to making use of our new powers that will help us to deal with crime and disorder," he said. "However, the force continues to have concerns about extending the hours during which people can drink, given the culture of excessive drinking that already pervades our society. Over the last few years, we have already seen premises being allowed to open later and later. At the same time, we have seen a sharp increase in alcohol-fuelled violence and anti-social behaviour, this being as a direct result of a culture of drinking to excess. "We are never going to solve this problem through enforcement alone, as enforcement only deals with the symptom and not the cause. We stress the importance of a far more holistic approach that includes dealing with the culture of excessive drinking and the need for all of the drinks industry to adopt a responsible attitude. "Our fear is that we will never solve the problem if we do not address its underlying causes and in the meantime, the police service will have to divert more and more resources to deal with the ever increasing levels of drunken thuggery that blight our cities, towns and villages every week."
