Issue - meetings

Report ES20043

At its meeting on 30^th July 2020 the Committee had considered the revised Statement of Licensing Policy for 2021-2026. The Statement had since been subject to five week public consultation which had closed on 31^st August 2020. The policy document is set out at Appendix A to the report.

The Committee noted the consultation responses and recommended that the revised Statement be adopted by full Council.  The Committee proposed one change, which was to re-instate a flow chart of the licensing application process, as in previous versions of the Statement.

The following comments were also made –

·  In section 2, the text should state “…up to January 2026.”

·  A general licensing complaint form should be available on the Council website to enable members of the public to record issues with licensed premises which would then potentially build up an evidence base for reviews. 

·  The reference to “micro-pubs” had been inserted at the review five years before at the request of Members to indicate a general support for local businesses.

·  A report should be made to the next meeting summarising the increased workload of the Public Protection and Licensing Team across the range of licensing functions. 

It was clarified that any ward councillor could ask for a review of a premises licence. Reviews did not need to be sought through ward councillors, who did not have any specific powers in this respect – all applicants for reviews had to refer to the four licensing objectives with appropriate evidence. It was also explained that where potential license holders had spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act these could not formally be taken into account.

RESOLVED that

(1) The responses to public consultation be noted and the revised Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 be recommended for adoption by full Council on 12^th October 2020 to have effect on 7th January 2020, subject to re-instatement of an updated flow-chart.

(2) A licensing complaint form be developed for the Council website.

(3) A report be submitted for the next meeting on the workload for the licensing team.