Agenda item

The Licensing Officer introduced the report, noting that under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003, the council had to produce a policy statement every 5 years. With the last one having been published in December 2015, it was time to consult with a view to producing a new statement. Licensing Committee members were the lead consultee to the Cabinet Member Development and Safety, and were recommended to note the proposed changes shown in the appendix as tracked changes.

He explained the general outline of the policy, which followed case law and national guidance as it set out various matters and provided guidance to licence holders covering premises licenses, temporary event notices and much more.

He cited alcohol as a crucial area of licensing policy, weighing up the potential adverse community impact with the economic and leisure benefits. The policy sought to shape the licensing landscape in the town by promoting greater diversity in the night-time economy and proactively approaching the regulation of licensable activities.

He emphasised that the current policy statement was of a good standard, as it drew on CBC’s significant licensing experience since the passing of the 2003 Act. He clarified that most changes were very minor, though part 4.3.1. onwards detailed the more significant changes, including the addition of equalities statements and the removal of references to the late night levy, which was no longer in effect.

The Chair added that the report was to go out for consultation, so any wider issues could be brought to the committee’s attention at a later date. The Licensing Officer added that the consultation was open until 5th October.

Members made the following points:

-       praised particular elements of the town’s licensing policy, such as takeaway restaurants being open later than establishments selling alcohol, and asked the Licensing Officer how he effective he felt the policy statement was as a strategy. The Licensing Officer emphasised that he felt it was a very helpful tool that informed potential applicants exactly what was expected of them.

-       There were further questions about the night-time economy, particularly the section of the policy relating to ‘designated areas of concern’ and ‘cumulative impact areas’ (paras. 6.8-6.11). The Licensing Officer responded that the council had been careful in its wording, referring to parts of the town with a particularly large number of establishments serving alcohol as ‘areas of concern’. He suggested that significant evidence would be required for the council to go down the route of deploying this tool. It was a robust mechanism that had not been required so far. The Licensing Act 2003 gave authorities plenty of scope. He added that it would ultimately come down to the quality of representations or objections received on an application.

-       One Member raised that on  page 68, alcohol sales priced by volume/avoiding promotions which encourage excessive alcohol consumptions. Lots of conditional language like ‘should’ and ‘can’ – less concrete policy than he would like. The Chair agreed with RW’s suggestion that the policy should say ‘must’ rather than ‘should’ in the examples cited, in order to increase clarity. The Legal Officer warned that this might be seen as a more specific condition

-       Is the council was legally allowed to put a minimum price on alcohol, like in Scotland? Licensing Officer responded that he believed this was not the case, and it was not within the council’s legal scope – English authorities have not gone down this route. He added that there was a minimum price per unit in England, set at the level of alcohol duty plus VAT. However, in March 2020, the UK govt. stated that there were no plans to implement minimum alcohol pricing, although it was monitoring the situation in Scotland.  The Chair  added that the policy would monitor areas where proxy sales might be common

– vendor required to display clear notices stating that it was an offence to purchase alcohol under the age of 18.

-       The Chair made a number of further suggestions, which the Licensing Officer responded to. He suggested monitoring the disposal of glass recycling, and enhancing the wording in part 6.9, which referred to shops selling alcohol. The Licensing Officer agreed that these would be useful additions. DW also suggested monitoring the use of ‘creamer’ cartridges (NO2), although the Licensing Officer suggested that this could not be restricted through licensing protocols except in the context of an event.

The Legal Officer moved to a vote, which was carried unanimously.

For: 6

Against: 0

Abstain: 0