Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received.

Councillor Willingham declared that he has shares in Tesco.

Councillor Stafford declared that she works at Tesco although not this branch.

The Legal Officer deemed that this would not have any effect on the matter in hand.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held 2^nd December 2020.

Minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd December 2020 were approved and signed.

To approve the meeting of the Licensing Sub Committee held on 25^th January 2021.

The minutes of the sub committee held on 25 January 2021 were approved and signed.

Application for Street Trading Consent.

The Senior Licensing Officer gave his report as published.

The matter then went to Members to ask questions of the Senior Licensing Officer.  They were as follows:

-       Covid dispensation to have chairs and tables on the highway, will there be a proliferation of chairs and tables on premises nearby.  The Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that they understand that there aren’t  premises nearby that will be effected. Not aware of any premises in the area that have applied.

-       If Huffkins that is in John Lewis apply for tables and chairs would that have an effect on the application.  Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that they have not received an application from John Lewis and this was not mentioned in their objection.

The applicant was then asked if she had any questions for the Senior Licensing Officer – confirmed not at this moment.

The objector was then asked if she had any questions for the Senior Licensing Officer she confirmed that she did as follows:

-       Wondered how this application sits beside the part of  the policy regarding sustaining local businesses – SLO replied that this could be  seen as effecting local businesses or it could bring more customers to this part of the High Street.  This was covered in his report.

-       John Lewis is being referred to in particular but in the near vicinity is Soho Coffee and Costa Coffee that also sell soft drinks and refreshments has this been taken into account? The SLO replied that they had not received any representations from those premises with any specific concerns.  Members need to consider if there would be damage to the other businesses or not.

The objector on behalf of Cheltenham BID was then asked to speak, her objections were as follows:

-       Feedback from the businesses that the BID represent will have an effect on them, they have all had a really tough time, the grants have been very welcome but this does not cover the costs.  Under normal circumstances they would be paying rates which helps the town.

-       Social distancing my cause a problem and this will put a strain on Council officers and the Police.

-       Other concerns were more around the number of businesses such as this, there is a doughnut stall and a falafel stall in the area which are in direct competition with businesses which pay business rates.  The BID feels that there may be a better place for them to be situated.

-       Also made the point that a lot of the businesses are closed at the moment therefore the staff are on furlough and would not be picking up emails which meant that they may have wanted to respond but haven’t due to the circumstances.

The Chair then asked Members if they had any questions for the objector:

-       There were no Member questions for the objector.

The Chair then asked the applicant if she had any questions for the objector that she would like to ask via the chair:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Authority’s Response to Review of the Gambling Act - Call for Evidence

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report relating to the Council’s response for evidence to the Government’s review in December 2020 of the Gambling Act 2005. The report gave members the opportunity to comment on and endorse the response. The Officer pointed out that many of the areas were not directly relevant to licensing authorities and that the draft response was outlined in the Appendix 1 to the report.

There were no questions from members,  however the Chair wished to ensure that the response pointed out there was no evidence that the Cheltenham run lottery was producing any harmful gambling and to ensure it did not undermine the huge amount of good work that was carried out to raise money for good causes through the lottery.

Alistair Henry (Licensing Enforcement Officer) was asked if he had any comments.  He stated he had nothing much to add other than to clarify that reference was only made to the National Lottery regarding the intention to raise the participation age from 16 to 18 as there was a risk with scratch cards etc.  Local Authorities who ran a lottery engaged a Lottery Manager to ensure all regulations regarding the Licensing Art were adhered to and he had no concerns over this.

A member suggested it would be possible to ascertain if there was any evidence of gambling abuse or addiction in connection with the Cheltenham Lottery.  The Chair replied that he had already asked this question of the Officer responsible for the Lottery and that the reply had been there was no such evidence.

There being no further comments, the Chair asked if members were happy with the proposed letter in his name being sent as the response. 

All members were in agreement.

1)     Documents referring to the night time economy

2)    A copy of the presentation “Cheltenham’s approach to supporting licensed premises through the pandemic”

3)    A briefing note regarding information to keep Members informed of matters relating to the work of the Cabinet or a committee but where no decisions from Members are needed. 

The Chair referred to the letter drafted by Officers and sent in his name to the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Night Time Economy calling for evidence into Covid 19 and the Night Time Economy.  The Chair reminded members that Cheltenham was one of only seven local authorities mentioned in the report as contributing significantly and the only Tier 2 Authority.  He felt this showed Cheltenham going above and beyond and gave credit to the Licensing Team for their work on the night time economy.

The Chair also mentioned the LGA webcast where the work the Council had done to support licensed premises throughout the pandemic had been highlighted and that the Purple Flag Accreditation documents were in the public domain showing what Cheltenham is doing to retain the Purple Flag and to keep the night time economy diverse, safe and enjoyable.

The Chair referred to the briefing note outlining the work that had been done following  two licensing sub committees relating to late night recorded music and sale of alcohol at 129-131 the Promenade. Debriefs with Officers following these committees has resulted in printed copies of all Licensing Policies being available for the Chair at meetings; request for further member training and development which will happen after the elections in May and sub committees now being able to defer the decision making until after the meeting to enable Legal advice with a full written decision with reasons.

The Committee noted all of the above.

There were none, however as the next meeting was after the elections, the Chair wished to thank the Licensing, Legal and Democratic Services teams for all their dedicated work and support to the Licensing committees.

The next Full Licensing Committee will be 9^th June 2021.

9 June 2021