Agenda and draft minutes

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2024 (Copy enclosed)

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2024.

DECISION:

That the minutes be signed as a correct record.

Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a Councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.

There were none.

To review the Policy in preparation for consultation – (Report of Assistant Director – Regulatory enclosed)

The Chairman introduced the Licensing Officer to present the Licensing Act 2003 Draft Statement of Licensing Policy to enable the members to review the Draft Policy in preparation for public consultation.

The Licensing Officer detailed that the report highlighted the proposed revised statement of Licensing Policy for South Holland District Council. The policy was being presented to the committee as part of the Councils statutory duty to carry out a review of the Licensing Policy every 5 years.

The policy set out the process that the council would apply when determining applications under the Licensing Act 2003, this would ensure that the licensing objectives were suitably promoted and upheld. The objectives under the Licensing Act 2003, were:

• The prevention of crime and disorder;
• Public safety
• The prevention of public nuisance
• The protection of children from harm

The purpose of the policy was to assist applicants in understanding what the authority sought to achieve and to advise on measures that applicants could implement to promote those objectives. The policy also served as a reference document for all decisions made by the Licensing Authority.

The policy would not undermine the rights of any person who wished to apply for a licence, submit representation on an application, or apply for a review of a licence under the Provisions Act. Each individual request would be considered on its own merits.

Whilst licensing law was a key element of controlling certain aggravation along with anti-social behaviour, the policy made it clear that it should not be used as the primary mechanism for regulating instances away from the immediate vicinity of the licensed premises.

Several amendments had been made to the existing policy. Those amendments had been detailed within the body of the document. Some amendments were non-material, including updates of population statistics and the number of licensed premises.

The material amendments were:

• Additions to section 4.3 to provide general information and guidance for applicants and licence holders on measures they may consider adopting, to promote the public safety licensing objective, this included advice on how to protect patrons from drink spiking.
• Incidents of drink spiking were on the increase to an extent that the Home Office had published a national strategy on tackling the issue.
• The policy advises the promotion of.
  • Staff training,
  • Employment of door supervisors/security.
  • Awareness of local taxi providers.
  • Safe spaces for customers.
  • Preventative measures to prevent drugs entering the premises.
  • CCTV.
  • Promoting consumer materials and products such as informative posters, anti-spiking bottle tops, to help mitigate related incidents.

• The policy also provided advice on the action to be taken when a suspected incident had occurred, for example, recording relevant details, contacting emergency services, and securing the spiked drink so it could be analysed by the police.  

• In addition to those practices the revised policy encouraged licence holders along with new applicants to promote several established schemes to advocate public safety.

Suggested schemes include:

• Ask for Angela – a non-profit scheme that would provide licensees with the knowledge and tools they require  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chairman requested that if any member of the Committee of the Licensing Authority noted any grammatical or spelling issues within the reports or the minutes, could this be raised with the officer prior to the meeting.