Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
"Haringey Council commits to ‘control tobacco’ on No Smoking Day"
2015: the temple to tobacco in Finsbury Park, as approved by Haringey Council.
Seven Sisters Road behind
HARINGEY council licences shops selling tobacco throughout the Borough. That is entirely lawful, if not entirely ethical.
However, today the council deserves a small pat on the back for their declaration on tobacco use, even if it doesn't mean much in a practical sense.
It's a low-cost or no-cost, gesture.
There is mention of "tackling smoking harms at every opportunity we can" and "comprehensive action", but the comprehensiveness of such action is limited:
As a landlord, the council is not required to hire out any "premises" they own, let alone obliged to agree to tobacco sales on its own land.
Unless of course, that land happens to be a public park (Finsbury Park).
Tobacco sales in our park began on a large scale in 2014 alongside the Major Events policy of Leader Kober. This policy is continued enthusiastically by the current council leader.
Tobacco outlets at such commercial events are of great value to tobacco dealers.
The scale of the sales area on the licensed "premises" is not quite as great as in the early years, but the council is determined not to allow public health policy to stand in the way of what the leader and the municipal events team believe, are great financial deals.
One wonders what Haringey's Director of Public Health might have to say about this?
The Council's lack-of-action, let alone comprehensive action, is inconsistent with the government's sensible, declared aim of a focus on ill-health prevention.
Tags for Forum Posts: Festival Republic, Finsbury Park, Haringey Council, Kober, Live Nation, Wireless, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, tobacco sales
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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GIVEN that this is a signing and a declaration, with nothing specific mentioned, it's unlikely to have a practical impact on illegal tobacco.
Having served on the council's licensing committee for four years, I know that shopkeepers who sell untaxed tobacco, or who sell to underage persons, run the risk of having their licence suspended or revoked.
That often happens in addition to separate police prosecutions.
Members of the public can attend meetings of the licensing committe, but few do and get to see the work of Enforcement Officers.
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The taxed stuff is bad enough. However during meetings of the Licensing Committee, council officers would occasionally point out that the untaxed stuff can be more hazardous to health (!). The untaxed tobacco is normally imported and the end-user cannot be sure of the ingredients.
In terms of tobacco selling, the State and councils seem at least as interested in revenue protection as they are in public health.
And indirectly, Haringey Council benefits financially from the sales of fully legal tobacco at events in our park.
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Permalink Reply by Ann on
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Thankyou for sharing your experience.
How does the public gain the information on how, when and where, to attend these meetings?
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Calendar of meetings:
https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx
Hearings of the Licensing Sub Committee are not separately identified. Some of them are cancelled at a late juncture. Hearings about untaxed tobacco and normally include evidence from an enforcement officer and/or a police officer.are unlikely to be cancelled).
Nowadays, these meetings are held online.
Licensing enforcement:
https://www.haringey.gov.uk/business/licensing/licences-permits-reg...
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Conflict of interest:
The park-hires arising from the council's Major Events policy are themselves, licensable and Licensed Activities.
Haringey is the Licensing Authority, which is a function that is supposed to be independent, objective and non-political. But the Licensing Department knows that their employer’s policy is to exploit Finsbury Park commercially, via a Premises Licence (and the separate, secret Land Use Agreement).
The appearance of conflict-of-interest places the Department in an awkward position.
However Haringey has enormous difficulty in recognising conflicts of interest, let alone acknowledging their conflicts of interest.
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Ann, initially I didn't want to go on the Licensing Committee, but in practice I found it truly interesting. We discharged a quasi-judicial role.
I should add that in my experience, when the Committee considered Licences (being (Applications /Variations /Reviews) much care and thought went into our Decisions.
I cannot recall any License in my experience, in which the council itself had a financial interest.
With their Major Events Policy however, the Council has a direct pecuniary interest in the outcome of any Decisions involving Finsbury Park Premises Licensing.
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