This week I:

• was contacted by a resident concerned about homeless people camping in an underpass near Newcastle University
• wrote to city centre residents to ask what impact licensed premises have on them – Karen Kilgour, the council leader, has recently said she is ‘reviewing’ the late night levy on licensed premises after they complained about the financial burden
• objected to an application from the Centre for Life to remove the noise management conditions on their licence. I think licensed premises should be responsible for minimising the impact on local residents.
• withdrew my objection to the Mojo application to relax its operating conditions. I still think the application will have a negative impact but the licensing authority, police and public health team had withdrawn their objections. Once the licensing authority withdraws, it’s extremely unlikely that other objectors will succeed and I didn’t see any point in wasting the committee’s time. I was told that by the council’s legal team that my withdrawal wouldn’t count unless I was willing to say I no longer had concerns about the application. That seems very odd.