Decision details

The Licensing Manager introduced the report and summarised the main changes to the current policy as set out in appendix 1 to the report.  She drew attention to a minor correction to Section B of the policy as set out to correct the numbering to continue to B.4 and B.5 under the new “Counter Terrorism” heading.

The Licensing Manager responded to questions from Members on the following:

a)    The reasons for proposing a specific reference to a procedure for how to deal with Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) which was a specific government campaign. 

b)    The reasons for the introduction of specific reference to Counter Terrorism and how this would be addressed in practice at a local level.

c)    Incidents of drink spiking and how the policy could be used to tackle this issue.

d)    The reasons for the proposed changes to the wording regarding temporary event notices (TENs).  The Licensing Manager explained that restrictions on limits for TENs were set out in relevant regulations or legislation.

e)    The use of the phrase “the policy has no adverse impact on racial groups” in the Equality Impact Assessment (appendix 2 to this report) with particular concern about the use of the word “adverse” in this context.  It was explained that this was the standard wording used across the council.  Councillor Porter stated that Councillor Becker (in her Cabinet role) had agreed to consider this further outside of the meeting.

During discussion, the following amendments to the policy were proposed by members:

a)    Paragraph 3.15 of the policy - replace “his/her” with “their”.

b)    Under Section B, Public Safety, section B.3, amend last bullet point from “Measures on how to prevent drink spiking and a procedure on how to deal with reported incidents” to “Measures on how to prevent drink spiking by training staff (including door staff) in awareness of drink spiking and a procedure on how to deal with reported incidents”.

c)    Change references in Appendix B of the policy from “plastic” to “non-glass based alternatives”.

d)    In the Glossary of terms used section on temporary events notice, remove the wording in the second bullet point as indicated - “scale – not exceeding 499 people present at the event at any one time.”

The Committee agreed that these amendments be made to the policy prior to it being published for consultation.

RESOLVED:

That the reviewed Draft Licensing Policy at Appendix 1 of the report as amended as set out above, be approved for consultation as detailed in paragraphs 10.6 to 10.9 of the report.