Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Head of Community on the outcome of the consultation on the draft Statement of Licensing Policy.

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Community (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) to which was attached a revised draft Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003. The Statement sets out how the Council will exercise its statutory duties and had been re-drafted in its entirety to incorporate changes in legislation, Government Guidance and the Local Government Association Best Practice Framework for the review of licensing policy statements.

The draft Statement had been approved for public consultation by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 23 June 2015. Consultation had taken place between 26th June and 4th September 2015 in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidelines and Members were advised that the Statement had now been amended to take into account, where appropriate, consultation responses.

In reviewing the consultation responses, the Chairman expressed his disappointment at the limited number of responses received from Town and Parish Councils. Having discussed possible reasons for this, it was suggested that future consideration could be given to the methods of engagement with other local authorities.

 In response to a specific question regarding the planning and licensing regimes, the Panel were reminded that these were separate regimes and that Licensing Committees were not bound by decisions made by a planning committee and vice versa.  The Head of Community outlined the benefits of the Licensing Committee in being able to review and amend conditions attached to a licence at a later date.

Having been advised that the current Statement was scheduled to expire on 6th January 2016 and that the Council was required to adopt and publish a new Statement in advance of that date or it would be unable to fulfil its licensing duties under the Licensing Act 2003, it was

RESOLVED

that the Council be recommended to approve the Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 as set out in Appendix 1 of the report now submitted, for a period of five years commencing on 7th January 2016.