Referral from Licensing Committee on 8 March 2021.

Council received the report of the Licensing Committee of the 15 March 2021, which included the revised Statement of Licensing Policy. 

RESOLVED-

that the new Statement of Licensing Policy and Cumulative Impact Assessment be adopted.

Report of the Senior Licensing Officer

The committee received the report of the Senior Licensing Officer detailing the results of the consultation on the policy and any amendments that needed to be made to the draft Statement of Licensing Policy and cumulative impact assessment as a result.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report. The report focused on the review of the council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and the town centre cumulative impact policy. The proposal was to retain this policy in the area. The committee had approved the policy for consultation in January and this report highlighted the results of the consultation.

The Cumulative Impact Policy allowed the council to have a starting point of refusing applications in the town centre. Changes to legislation now required that the council publish evidence to support the policy.

Details of the consultation and responses were set out in the report and appendices. Most were broadly in support of the proposed policy and comments related to specific premises had been passed to relevant authorities. Further responses related to the Special Licensing Areas (SLA) where there were had been concerns around street drinking, licensing hours and litter. There was no opposition to creating a SLA to cover areas which had previously been covered by a cumulative impact policy.

Turning to the amendments to the references to the Equality Act, this was to replace old wording and to specify the duty to fulfil the act, rather than due to the negative impact of the previous policy wording. The policy went above and beyond what was required in the government guidance in promoting the Equality Act.

Environmental Health and the Police were in support of the policy. The Police had expressed legitimate concerns about the impact of Covid 19 on the night time economy. It was noted that licensing sub-committees could depart from the policy should there be good reasons and the policy would not be in place in perpetuity and would be reviewed.

Regarding the existing policy area in Queens Road, there were no changes to the existing policy but the section that ran through the Atria Centre was now part of the SLA.

The expiry date of the policy had been retained so it could be reviewed soon to take into account the changing nature of the town centre.

It was noted that the committee were not proposing any further amendments to the policy.

RESOLVED –

1.      that the committee approves the amendments to the draft SLP and CIA as a result of the consultation.

2.      that the Licensing Committee recommends that the new Statement of Licensing Policy, attached at appendix 1, and Cumulative Impact Assessment, attached at appendix 2, be adopted by the Council, as the licensing authority, at its meeting on 16th March 2021.