EMRO for Village
Town hall chiefs may enforce the famous Gay Village with the city’s first ever ‘early morning restriction order’ (EMRO) – designed to cut boozy bad behaviour.
It would see a number of venues – nine of which can currently open past 7am, forced to shut at an earlier time.
Bars operators have hit back, warning that it will threaten their future.
Haydn Pope, network chair and owner of Canal Street club AXM, said the move was about cutting costs, not crime.
He added: “They are looking at it the wrong way.
“We have been screaming for more CCTV and lighting for years and they haven’t done any of that.”
Council bosses believe soaring numbers of stag and hen dos – coupled with ‘poor venue management’ – are contributing to the problem.
A new long-term strategy for the neighbourhood – including attempts to kick-start the development of the Origins site, on the corner of Princess Street – is now being drawn up by the town hall and will be discussed by councillors this week.
While they admit the so-called EMRO – one of the measures being considered – is not the only answer,some believe it could be the way forward.
Read a previous article on the matter here.
STOP PRESS......
This position appears to mirror the opinion of Councillor Richard Leese, the Leader of Manchester City Council, who blogged on 31st July. “I keep reading that the Council is looking to force Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) on the Gay Village area in the city centre. Not true. I think the police might want us to use these orders, but they’re certainly not being promoted by the Council and there has been no formal discussion within the Council about their use. On that basis the following opinion is a personal one, and that is that if there are ASB and crime issues in the early hours of the morning around Canal Street , EMROs are not the way to deal with them. If there are problems with particular premises then they should be dealt with through the licensing and other enforcement regimes. If there are problems in the street they should be dealt with through effective policing. EMROs would punish the good with the bad, and at best would just displace the problems that exist elsewhere. The night-time economy is an important ingredient of the re-birth of the city over the last two decades and we need to be very careful before taking draconian measures that will not just undermine businesses in the Village but undermine the broader concept of Manchester as a good place to be”.
The news will come as a relief to the Manchester LGBT community who have petitioned and fought tirelessly against the proposed plans for a number of months.
Image Copyright Aidan O'Rouke 2000
Published: 18-Jul-2013: (1991)
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