Agenda item

The report of Carla Adkins (Public Protection Officer – Licensing) asks the Licensing Committee to note the consultation undertaken and subsequent amendments made to the Council’s draft Licensing Policy (in relation to the Licensing Act 2003) and comments the Statement of Licensing Policy to the Council for approval at its meeting on 15 October 2019.

Carla Adkins (Public Protection Officer – Licensing) referred to the report that was circulated with the Agenda which asked the Committee to note the consultation undertaken and subsequent amendments made to the Council’s draft Statement of Licensing Policy.  The following points below were highlighted:

·       Consultation was carried out between 1 April and 7 August 2019, during which 17 responses were received from a mix of stakeholders and groups;

·       The responses to the consultation were detailed in Appendix 2 to the report and there were three areas highlighted in blue which sought a Member view/recommendation on whether suggested changes should be made to the draft Statement of Licensing Policy;

·       The first was in relation to Shadow Licences.  As Shadow Licences are not referred to in the Section 182 guidance this had not been mentioned in the Policy although it was suggested that wording could be added with a query if a shadow licence was to be reviewed should the original licence be reviewed.

A Committee Member asked how prevalent Shadow Licences were in Wiltshire and it was reported to Committee that there were a handful in existence.  It was suggested that it would perhaps be clearer if this wording was included within the Policy and agreed that legal advice should be sought following Committee.  The Committee agreed that if Legal advice was to include a reference to Shadow Licences then it should be included in the Policy.

·       A Town Council had requested that the timescale for the submission of an Event Management Plan for smaller scale events be reduced to 3 months (from 6 months);

A Committee Member asked for the view of the Licensing Manager.  Linda Holland reported that six months allowed more time for appropriate arrangements to be made to ensure relevant infrastructure could be put in place for safe and successful events.  The Committee agreed not to accept this amendment and to retain the current 6-month timescale. 

·       A Town Council had requested to amend the wording of the intention to use polycarbonate “glasses” rather than glass to address safety issues.  It had been suggested that this be amended to “multi-use plastic”.  The Committee agreed that this change should be made to the Policy;

·       A few respondents to the consultation had questioned the application process but this was not able to be changes as it is set in legislation.  Some felt that the Planning Department should be more involved.  Officers confirmed that they are a statutory consultee, but they cannot be forced to make a response/representation when an application is received;

·       A number of concerns relating to specific premises were raised and those had been dealt with outside of the consultation and they had been reminded that this is a Wiltshire wide policy to cover all licensable venues; and

·       The Policy would be now be amended and a final draft prepared to be presented to the next meeting of Council for approval.

The Chairman thanked Officers on behalf of the Committee for the work to produce the Statement of Licensing Policy.

Resolved:

1.    That the Committee note the consultation undertaken and subsequent amendments now agreed by the Committee to be made to the Council’s draft Statement of Licensing Policy.

2.    That the Licensing Committee commends the Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 to the Council for approval at its meeting on 26 November 2019.