Minutes:
2012 Year of Celebration
Members will be aware that 2012 is set to be a year of celebration with the Queens Diamond Jubilee and Olympics. Many communities are already well down the path of organising local parties and festivities. Whilst the Licensing team are still waiting to see how plans develop it is worth drawing to Members attention that there is likely to be licensing implications. Members should be assured that everything will be done to support communities and organisers to ensure their event is both properly licensed and safe but should be aware that there may be a need to convene sub-committees on the odd occasion. This is likely to be true for the Olympic evening event to be held in Salisbury where Wiltshire Council will be the applicant.
This is a developing picture. The Licensing team is working with Laurie Bell and her cross-authority 2012 ‘Celebration team’ so that we can work with communities at an early stage of their planning, helping them through the process where applicable and managing the demand on the service.
I will be kept informed of progress which no doubt will pick up momentum in the near future as we move closer to the summer months.
Street Trading
The 28 day public consultation period for the Wiltshire Council resolution to adopt all streets as consent streets in the Wiltshire Council area closes on the 10 February 2012.
If we do not receive any representations relating to the proposed resolution a public notice will be placed in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks stating that Wiltshire Council have designated all streets in the Council`s area as consent streets, and that the designation will come into force on the 1 April 2012.
As soon after this date the new scheme will be implemented and will provide effective powers to control inappropriate street trading within the Council`s area.
Home Office Consultation
Section 172 of the Licensing Act 2003 enables the Secretary of State to make licensing hours orders. These orders can be made where there is a period (celebration period) which will mark an occasion of exceptional international, national, or local significance.
During December 2011 the Home Office carried out a consultation with interested parties which proposed that a licensing hours order be made for the Queens Jubilee.
If such an order is made it will allow all currently licensed premises to carry out licensable activities until 01:00 A.M. on both the 1 and 2 June 2012 without the need to apply for a Temporary Event Notice or license variation. There has been overwhelming support for the proposal and it is anticipated that the national licensing hours order will be made by the Secretary of State later this month.
Implementing the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
There are a number of key measures in the new Act which include:
None of the alcohol provisions in the act came into force immediately upon royal assent. The PRSR Act includes a commencement provision for the government to commence any or all of the provisions when it so chooses.
The existing legislative procedure and protocol mean that measures are ordinarily brought into force on one of two common commencement dates in April or October each year, so the earliest any of the alcohol provisions will be introduced is likely to be 6 April 2012, with more complex proposals which require more detailed secondary legislation likely to be commenced later.
Next steps
Some of the alcohol provisions introduced in the act require substantive changes to secondary legislation prior to commencement. Further information regarding consultation on these changes will be available shortly from the Home Office.
The statutory guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 will also be revised to reflect the changes introduced by the PRSR Act before the first provisions are commenced. The amendments to the statutory guidance will also include a number of other changes the government committed to making in its response to the 'Rebalancing the Licensing Act' consultation. Input from the Licensing Committee will be sought during this process.
Constantine Leisure (Karma)
As expected, Constantine Leisure has now applied for judicial review of the Magistrates’ Court’s decision in October 2011 to refuse their appeal against the revocation of the premises licence for Karma. The grounds set out in the claim form basically mirror those set out in their pre-action protocol letter in December 2011.
The Council and the police have now submitted their joint response to the Administrative Court, contesting the claim and setting out the reasons why we consider the decision of the Magistrates’ court should be upheld.