| 19 | The Committee noted that the guidance issued by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 advised that Licensing Committees should receive regular reports on decisions made by officers under delegated powers so that Members could maintain an overview of the general situation. The Committee had previously agreed that update reports should be submitted to each of its meetings in future.
Accordingly a report was submitted that set out details of the various statutory powers and issues involved, and outlined the legal and financial implications. The report included an annex that set out the delegation of various licensing functions in tabular form, and a second annex that gave details of the corresponding activity level by officers.
It was noted that during the consultations carried out in connection with the previous year's review of the Council's Licensing policy, comments had been made that the definition of "vicinity" had been drawn too tightly to be of any great benefit to residents, and it had been suggested that Ward Councillors' opinions should be sought in determining the extent of such boundaries. It was explained, however, that each case was considered individually having regard to local and geographical considerations. The boundaries were normally defined on a wide basis and there was no intention to exclude anyone from the process.
In reply to a query from a Member, it was noted that Ward Councillors did not normally attend meetings of Sub-Committees that considered applications in their particular Wards as they did not have an automatic right to speak at such hearings. |
| 20 | The Committee considered a report concerning the existing Licensing Sub-Committee procedures, a copy of which were reproduced at Annex 1 of the report. In the light of experience over the past few years, Members were asked to consider whether or not any amendments were required to those procedures.
It was noted that three years had elapsed since the procedures were first introduced and originally local authorities had no experience of how the implementation of the new legislation could best be achieved.
Members generally welcomed the procedures and indicated that they had found them to be extremely useful as a guide to the proceedings of the Sub-Committee. Particular reference was made to paragraph 10.1(a) regarding the adjournment of a meeting to a specified date. A recent instance had occurred when the meeting had been adjourned to a specified time on the same date, and it was suggested that the wording of that paragraph should be amended to take account of such instances. |
| 21 | It was reported that a review of the Licensing Act had been published within the past few days, and officers confirmed that a report would be brought to Members if there were any particular changes to be made as a result of that review.
A Member made reference to applications for the review of Premises Licences in relation to the sale of alcohol to under age persons, and it was noted that officers were liaising with Trading Standards Officers regarding such items. |