Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting. View directions

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Link: Click to view live meeting from 6:30pm on 8th September 2020

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

No declarations were made on this occasion.

 

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 141 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19th March, 2019. This is because meetings scheduled for the 11th June 2019, 10th September 2019, 10th December 2019, 17th March 2020 and the 16th June 2020, were cancelled.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 19th March 2019 were confirmed as a correct record to be signed by the Chair in due course.

 

3.

Minutes of Licensing Sub-Committees

Members are requested to indicate whether they wish to discuss the exempt minutes listed at agenda item 11.  If so, it will be necessary to resolve to exclude the Press and Public and circulate the exempt minutes prior to any discussion of the exempt minutes listed at agenda item 11.

 

Should no Member wish to discuss the minutes, the Committee are invited to resolve to receive the exempt minutes without discussion

Minutes:

No Member indicated that they wished to discuss the content of the exempt minutes therefore it was not necessary to exclude the press and public.

 

Councillor Haigh informed Members that she had not received copies of the exempt minutes.

 

The Chair stated that the exempt minutes would be re-circulated, that he and officers would be available to clarify matters arising from them and would defer discussion among Members if necessary.

 

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the Licensing Enforcement Sub-Committee held on 16th April 2019, 7th October 2019, 11th October 2019, 11th November 2019 (three cases), 26th November 2019 (four cases), 17th December 2019 (two cases), 11th February 2020 (two cases), 17th February 2020 (five cases), 3rd March 2020, 13th July 2020 and 18th August 2020 be received subject to circulation to Members.

 

4.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

 

·         Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings, or

·         Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers

Minutes:

There were no questions from members of the public.

 

5.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes, maximum 3 minutes per person)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

 

·         Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·         Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

Minutes:

There were no petitions or deputations.

 

6.

Cumulative Impact Policy review pdf icon PDF 324 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Place which asks members to direct Officers to undertake the necessary steps to review the current Cumulative Impact Policy by way of consultation with relevant parties.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) presented the report of the Head of Place that sought Members to direct Officers to undertake the necessary steps to review the current Cumulative Impact Policy by way of consultation with relevant parties.

 

The Chair advised Members that the Cumulative Impact Policy itself would be considered at the next meeting following the proposed review and consultation.

 

RESOLVED that Officers undertake the necessary steps to review the current Cumulative Impact Policy, by way of consultation with relevant parties over an eight week period.

 

7.

Revised Licensing Policy Statement pdf icon PDF 255 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Place. The report presents the draft revised Licensing Policy Statement for approval by the Licensing & Enforcement Committee for consultation.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) presented the report of the Head of Place that offered the draft revised Licensing Policy Statement for approval by Members for consultation.

 

The Chair informed Members that the struckthrough text within the table of Delegated Functions in Appendix A to the Draft Licensing Policy Statement should be regarded as not struckthrough.

 

Regarding consultation with Gloucestershire Public Health (Appendix 1 2.5) Councillor Williams reminded Members of recent government changes to national health agencies and advised them that related change may come to local health organisations.

 

Councillor D Brown asked if the proposed consultations for the Licensing Policy Statement and Cumulative Impact Policy included measures to mitigate against the current difficult circumstances to enable everyone who was well placed to comment to do so.

 

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) reassured Members that current circumstances had been taken into account and officers would reach out to engage as many people and organisations as possible.

 

Councillor Tracey sought clarification of the need for the expanded recommendation for employment of door staff (Appendix 1 4.6).

 

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) referred to the legislation concerning the Security Industry Authority (SIA) training and licensing of door staff for licensed premises in particular the requirement for premises with entertainment to employ licensed door staff.

 

Councillor Tracey enquired if the conditions for door staff would apply to events with entertainment held in homes.

 

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) replied that if a premises is not licensed or open to the general public then the legal requirements would not apply.

 

Councillor Williams noted that the estimate given for the population of Gloucester (Appendix 1 1.1) dated to 2014 and had since been superseded.

 

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) reassured Members that the population estimate would be updated with the figure in the City Plan as had been suggested by the Head of Place.

 

Councillor Patel asked why the Canal and River Trust was included as a `Responsible Authority’ with whom consultation was necessary (Appendix 1 Appendix H).

 

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) stated that it was required in legislation for premises owned by the Trust and that as major land owners in the city it would be sensible to include them.  He further advised that such consultation would only be necessary in relevant, not all, applications.

 

The Chair reiterated that the more consultees, the better.

 

RESOLVED that the draft Licensing Act 2003 Statement of Licensing Policy for the period 2021-2026 for the purposes of public consultation over an eight week period be approved.

 

8.

Quarterly Update pdf icon PDF 158 KB

To consider the report of the Head of Place, outlining to members details of key Licensing Activities carried out from March 2020 to August 2020, including applications and service requests received, details of any enforcement work, progress updates of the work plan and any changes in Licensing Law.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The City Centre Improvement Officer (Licensing Lead) presented the report of the Head of Place that outlined to Members details of key Licensing Activities carried out from March 2020 to August 2020, including applications and service requests received, details of any enforcement work, progress updates of the work plan and any changes in Licensing Law.

 

The Chair corrected an error in the report (4.1) by confirming that the appeal at Magistrates Court on 13th March 2020 regarding a Private Hire Vehicle License had in fact upheld the original decision.

 

Councillor Haigh expressed concern over the fulfilment of gambling licensing obligations under the current committee structure and asked that the matter be reviewed.

 

The Chair advised Members that he would discuss the issue with officers and that it would be an agenda item at the next meeting.

 

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

 

9.

Date of next meeting

Tuesday, 8th December at 6.30 p.m.

Minutes:

Tuesday, 8th December 2020 at 6.30pm.