ACS

Alcohol Disorder Zones (ADZ) have been criticised by a House of Lords committee as being ’unduly bureaucratic.’ ADZ were passed in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill in 2006, and were seen as a tool to combat alcohol-related disorder. However the Merits of Stautory Instruments Committee, who have been scrutinising the legislation before it is debated in the House of Commons on the 12 May, have expressed concerns that ADZ’s ‘may imperfectly achieve their policy objectives’ and that existing measures such as licence suspension and Business Improvement Districts could be more effective.

The report also noted concerns that despite the fact ADZs were only intended as temporary measure, there was no finite time limit in the legislation so they could remain in place indefinitely. There was also concern that the charging system may prove to be to complex.

The Conservative shadow home office minister, James Brokenshire, said: "After three years' preparation, two previous botched attempts at implementation and Gordon Brown's promise that the powers would be in place four months ago, they still can't get it right." However, a Home Office spokesman said: "The Lords merits committee may see alcohol disorder zones as over-bureaucratic but we disagree and the regulation will be debated in Parliament on May 12."

ACS has been involved in ADZ policy development for the past three years. ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “The ADZ regulations are overly bureaucratic. ACS has opposed their introduction from the start and though we have attempted to work with the Home Office to try and make the policy more effective, and had some success, the result is still a bad idea, executed poorly.”