Agenda and draft minutes

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Councillor Regan made a late declaration in respect of Item 4 that his principle income came from a property that he owned, which his wife held the licence for, and having reviewed the documents before the meeting, he could not see anything that would put him in a position of conflict; however, he questioned if he was allowed to vote on the item.

The Chair advised that as this report was looking at amendments to an existing Policy, most of which were regulatory in nature, and having made a declaration, he was happy that Councillor Regan could take part in the discussion of the item and vote.  

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 2022 were approved as true record, subject to the inclusion of Councillor Butler in the list of those present at the meeting and signed by the Chair.

The report of the Director – Neighbourhoods is attached.

The Service Manager – Public Protection introduced the Principal Officer – Community Safety and Licensing and the Senior Licensing Officer to the Committee.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report and advised that it was a statutory requirement of the Licensing Act 2003 for the Council, as Licensing Authority to have a Statement of Licensing Policy, which had to be updated every five years, and the new Policy had to be adopted by 7 January 2024.  Whilst reviewing the Policy, the Committee was advised that a group exercise had been undertaken with all licensing authorities in the county (NALG), with a general policy being agreed, which was then tailored to each individual Licensing Authority. The Policy set out how Rushcliffe Borough Council intended to manage the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Committee was advised that there were a number of proposed changes to the Policy, to reflect changes in legislation and to local communities, with some of the suggested changes proposed by other authorities.  The Policy had been put out to public consultation for six weeks, with only one representation made by the Public Health team at Nottinghamshire County Council. 

The Senior Licensing Officer referred to the revisions to the previous Policy, which were detailed in Paragraph 4.5 of the report and Appendix B.  Following on from that overview, Councillors asked questions and made comments and officers responded.

Councillor Mallender questioned what a substantial change to a premises would be in respect of requiring a change to a licence, and the Senior Licensing Officer advised that a major variation would involve increasing the size of a premises, for example to cater for 150 people rather than 100, whereas a minor variation would involve for example a change in the layout of a room.  He went on to advise that a variation would only be required if the area in question being changed was not covered by an existing licence.

Councillor Mallender praised the ‘Ask for Angela’ initiative referred to in Section 7.13 of the Policy, and the Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that checks were made to ensure staff in premises were aware of this and what to do if approached by a person who was feeling unsafe or threatened.  Councillor Matthews stated that the revisions were calling for additional, mandatory training for this initiative, and that was confirmed by the Senior Licensing Officer.

Councillor Chewings questioned how the membership of any Licensing Sub-Committee was selected from the main Licensing Committee, and the Service Manager – Public Protection advised that a Councillor would have to be appropriately trained, available to attend at relatively short notice and not conflicted in terms of any declarations of interest. 

Councillor Williams referred to pavement licences and asked if applying for such a licence would have an impact on a premises licence and the Senior Licensing Officer advised that the sale of rather than the consumption of alcohol was a licensable activity. 

Councillor Matthews asked how the procedures around ensuring the safety of staff  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.