(a)

between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 there had been 2316 licensing applications which covered some of the following areas alcohol and entertainment, gambling, sex establishment, scrap metal etc;

(b)

under the Licensing Act 2003, 463 (including167 suspensions) licensing applications, transfers and variations had been processed together with 129 new personal licences; the Licensing Sub Committee considered nine applications/variations during the same period (1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019):

(c)

the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) for North Hill had been reviewed by the Police as there had been a possibility that an extension was required for this area; following monitoring of the area, the Police concluded that the proposed extension was not required and was therefore withdrawn;

(d)

with regard to flyposting and promotional material, all evening and night time economy premises who held music events, had been written to, advising them of the updated licensing policy and the Council’s expectations regarding their duties for advertising events;

(e)

Licensing Officers and Trading Standards officers had carried out a joint mystery shopper exercise in November 2018; 67% of public houses failed to challenge the mystery shopper or failed to stop them playing a gaming machine after challenging their age for the sale of alcohol;

(f)

the licensing team were members of Safer Plymouth, and Evening and Night Time Economy Group and the Alcohol Harm Reduction sub group;

(g)

the Group had been successful in its application for the Purple Flag Award (the award was given to cities/towns which surpassed the standards of excellence in managing its evening and night time economy;

the assessors had commented that the Group’s application was one of the best they had received and had further been nominated for another two awards (Wellbeing Movement and the Jim Ratchford award in outstanding contribution to safety and diversity within the night time economy).

(h)

there had been a decrease in the number of applications for new premises licences and a slight increase in Temporary Event Notices during this period;

(i)

the Police Alcohol Licensing department worked in partnership with Best Bar None and this positive working relationship was highlighted when Plymouth’s Best Bar None scheme received the Best National Scheme award for an unprecedented second year in a row;

(j)

with the national increase in knife crime, the Police had worked with door supervisor companies, Best Bar None and Pubwatch to identify an effective and reasonable priced metal detector, that could be used at venues; the detectors had been used successfully to deter knives from being carried and would be rolled out across many of the late night venues in the City;

(k)

a trial had been carried out whereby taxi marshalls had been used in Derry’s Cross and Union Street, at the weekends during the summer and in December 2018; during the summer months 30,000 customers had been dealt with; all parties involved with this trial had viewed it as a success which would be carried out again in 2019;

(l)

training continued regarding the Ask for Angela campaign; the scheme was attracting interest from large employers within the City such as Plymouth City Bus;

(m)

a three month drink spiking trial was currently taking place which utilised testing kits in venues and urine testing kits in police cars.

(n)

sought clarification regarding the new process that had been implemented for the suspension of licensing due to non-payment of fees;

(o)

whether there had been any responses to the letters sent out to venues relating to fly posting and promotional material;

(p)

whether the Challenge 25 scheme was used for gambling and gaming venues;

(q)

whether the Council had sufficient capacity to deal with the possible increase in Temporary Event Notices, in relation to Mayflower 400 celebrations;

(r)

concerns relating to the forthcoming football season, in particular the Plymouth Argyle verses Exeter City match and whether measures would be put in place to mitigate the risks;

(s)

whether the Committee could be updated on the proposal to implement a street trading policy for the whole of the City;

(t)

what action had been taken following the incident during the football world cup whereby football fans spilled out onto the highway;

(u)

concerns regarding the advice provided to applicants when applying for a Temporary Events Notice (TEN); (the Licensing Sub Committee had been convened to consider a TEN only to establish that the applicant’s had withdrawn it0;

(v)

whether it was the intention to extend the Ask Angela campaign to the under 17’s and16’s, and if so, would the schools be involved with this;

(w)

concerns that Police Officers were not aware of the amendment to the Offensive Weapons Bill 2019 which secured the right of Sikhs to carry the Kirpan (small sword/dagger);

(x)

whether the drink spiking scheme was being well advertised in venues across the City.