Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council House (Next to the Civic Centre), Plymouth

Contact: Helen Rickman/Lynn Young  Email: helen.rickman@plymouth.gov.uk/lynn.young@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

49.

TO NOTE THE APPOINTMENT OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR

The committee will note the appointment of Councillor Rennie as Chair and Councillor Foster as Vice Chair as confirmed at the Council’s AGM on 22 May 2015.

Minutes:

The committee noted the appointment of Councillor Rennie as Chair, and Councillor Foster as Vice Chair for the municipal year 2015-2016.

50.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct.

51.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To note the following minutes –

 

Licensing Sub Committee -

 

·         3 March 2015

·         17 March 2015

·         19 May 2015

 

To confirm the following minutes –

 

Licensing Committee –

 

·         3 February 2015.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Agreed the following minutes -

 

Licensing Committee –

 

·         3 February 2015

 

Noted the following minutes –

 

Licensing Sub Committee -

 

·         3 March 2015

·         17 March 2015

·         19 May 2015

 

52.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

53.

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS FOR THE FORTHCOMING YEAR

The committee is asked to note the dates of future meetings for the municipal year 2015-2016.

 

Licensing Committee –

 

·         15 September 2015

·         15 December 2015

·         15 March 2016

 

Licensing Sub Committee –

 

·         30 June 2015

·         14 and 28 July 2015

·         4  and 18 August 2015

·         1, 15 and 29 September 2015

·         6 and 20 October 2015

·         3 and 17 November 2015

·         1 and 15 December 2015

·         5 and 19 January 2016

·         2 and 16 February 2016

·         1, 15 and 29 March 2016

·         12 April 2016

 

Members are asked to note that the dates of the Licensing Sub Committees are provisional and will only be activated if required.  Members will be contacted separately regarding the membership required for these meetings.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the schedule of meetings for the Licensing Committee and Licensing Sub Committee for the municipal year 2015-2016.

54.

INFORMATION REGARDING DELEGATED DECISIONS FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THE GRANT/VARIATION OF PREMISES LICENCES AND CLUB PREMISES CERTIFICATES pdf icon PDF 51 KB

The Director of Public Health will submit a report detailing information regarding delegated decisions for applications for the grant/variation of premises licences and club premises certificates.

Minutes:

Fred Prout (Senior Licensing Officer) provided Members with an update on information regarding delegated decisions for applications for the grant or variation of premises licences.

 

Members were advised that the Licensing Department had received representations from responsible authorities or other parties that had been mediated out by agreement with both the applicant and the respective responsible authority without the need to bring the application before the Committee for determination.  The majority of issues raised linked to conditions on the licence in relation to operating hours, protection of children from harm, and Challenge 21 and Challenge 25.

 

The Chair thanked Fred Prout for his report.

 

Members noted the update.

55.

LICENSING ACTIVITY REPORT 2014-2015 pdf icon PDF 85 KB

The Director of Public Health will submit a report detailing licensing activity for 2014-2015.

Minutes:

Andy Netherton (Service Manager, Public Protection Service) provided Members with a report on Licensing Activity for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.  Jock McIndoe (Licensing Officer, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary) was also present for this agenda item.

 

Members were advised that –

 

(a)

Licensing Officers had processed the following number of applications –

 

·         340 licensing applications, transfers and variations

·         174 new personal licences

·         374 Temporary Event Notices (TENs), 104 of which were ‘late’;

 

(b)

Licensing Sub Committee undertook the following activities –

 

·         11 applications of variations

·         3 review of premises licences

 

resulting in 1refusal (relating to 3 TENs);

 

(c)

Licensing fees had remained unchanged since the introduction of the Licensing Act in 2005;

 

(d)

a number of de-regulatory measures had been introduced by the Government, the majority of which had been to reduce the number and range of licensable activities and included –

 

·         personal licences no longer had an expiry date (was previously 10 years)

·         there was no longer a requirement to report the loss or theft of a licence to the Police

·         the number of TENs in relation to the same premises had increased from 12 to 15 per annum;

 

(e)

the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 which came in to effect in October 2014 replaced existing powers to immediately close premises with similar provisions;

 

(f)

the main changes regarding licensing involved the repeal of Designated Public Places Orders (DPPO), a number of which exist across the City.  The DPPO had been replaced by similar provisions under Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO);

 

(g)

the Committee would no longer receive applications for DPPOs - applications for PSPOs would be considered via a Delegated Decision process and approved by the relevant Cabinet Member.  Existing DPPOs would continue until October 2017 when they must either be renewed with a PSPO or revoked;

 

(h)

155 formal noise complaints against licensed premises were registered;

 

(i)

Environmental Health Officers used an escalation process when investigating noise complaints, discussing the circumstances of the complaint with the responsible person at the earliest opportunity in order to allow them to resolve the matter quickly, without the need for further formal action;

 

(j)

an Out Of Hours noise service operated between 8 pm and 1am on Friday and Saturday nights to respond to noise complaints involving licenced premises;

 

(k)

alcohol continued to be a significant factor in violent crimes, with alcohol being a factor in approximately 70% of violence against the person crimes.  The evening and night time economy was involved in 19% of all violence against the person crimes;

 

(l)

the Police dealt with 15 venues classified as Problem Premises and had engaged in extensive negotiations and mediation to deal with concerns.  One of these had resulted in a review hearing;

 

(m)

the Police were actively engaged in supporting Plymouth Pubwatch, Barbican Pubwatch and the Plymouth Licensing Forum;

 

(n)

early discussions were taking place with individual licensees who were in receipt of 24 hour licences or 6 am terminal hours, regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

56.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s)? of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.