Agenda and minutes

Apologies were submitted on behalf of Councillors Jim Marsh and Barabara Nathan.

To confirm the minutes of the Licensing Act 2003 meeting held on 13 September 2016 (enclosed)

RESOLVED (Unanimously): That the minutes of the Licensing Act 2003 meeting held on 13 September 2016 be confirmed as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

Members are requested to indicate at this stage in the proceedings any items on the agenda in which they intend to declare an interest. Members are reminded that if the interest is a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (as defined in the Members’ Code of Conduct) they must leave the room for the whole of that item. If the interest is not a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, but is such that a member of the public could reasonably regard it as being so significant that it is likely that it would prejudice their judgment of the public interest (as explained in the Code of Conduct) then they may make representations, but then must leave the meeting for the remainder of the item.

There were no declarations of any interests.

Report and appendices (enclosed)

The Committee considered a report that proposed an amendment to the Terms of Reference as set out in the Council’s Constitution for the Licensing Act 2003 Committee.

The revised Terms of Reference were set out in Appendix 3 of the report.

RESOLVED (Unanimously): That full Council be recommended to approve the new Terms of Reference for the Licensing Act 2003 as set out in Appendix 3 of the report.

Report and appendix enclosed.

The Committee considered a report informing members of the implementation of amendments to the Licensing Act 2003.

The Police and Crime 2017 (Commencement Number 1 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2017 were made on 13 March 2017 and brought into effect a number of provisions within the Policing and Crime Act 2017 (2017 Act) from 6 April 2017. These provisions amend various sections of the Licensing 2003 (2003 Act) that included:

·         The definition of alcohol;

·         Summary Reviews;

·         Suspension/revocation of personal licences;

·         Relevant offences; and

·         Section 182 guidance

Members were provided with the details of the amendments within each of the sections. The Committee discussed the different categorisations of alcohol that now included powdered and vaporised versions.

RESOLVED (Unanimously): That the report be noted.

Report and appendix enclosed.

The Committee received a report from Stephanie Fairbrother, Licensing Officer who attended the meeting to update Members of a recent out of hours enforcement exercise undertaken by the Licensing team.

The purpose of the enforcement exercise that was undertaken between the hours of 9pm to 1am on Friday 11 August into Saturday 12 August 2017 was to:

·         Check that licensed premises were complying with their licence conditions, including specified precautions to minimise noise nuisance,

·         Ensure that takeaways which do not have a late night refreshment were not trading past the statutory cut-off time of 11pm; and

·         To ensure that there was no evidence of conduct which may cause concern in relation to Child Sexual Exploitation (e.g. unsupervised young people in the vicinity of licensed premises who may be a risk of “grooming”)

Nine visits were undertaken, four were satisfactory and resulted in no further action and five did reveal an issue to be addressed. All issues were addressed by formal correspondence and have been successfully concluded. The team planned to repeat the exercise on a regular basis and would provide updates to the Committee.

Members were keen to be involved with this process and asked to be kept informed of potential dates.

RESOLVED (Unanimously): That the report be noted.