Agenda and minutes

(Special), Licensing and General Purposes Committee - Wednesday 25 January 2017 7.30 pm

Venue: Meeting Room 4, Civic Buildings 5 & 6, Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY. View directions

Contact: Alison Atherton, Senior Professional - Democratic Services  Tel: 020 8424 1266 E-mail:  alison.atherton@harrow.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

20.

Attendance by Reserve Members

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

 

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

 

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

Minutes:

RESOLVED: To note the attendance of the following duly constituted Reserve Members:

 

Ordinary Member

 

Reserve Member

Councillor Kairul Kareema Marikar

Councillor Margaret Davine

 

21.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

 

(a)               all Members of the Committee;

(b)               all other Members present.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members.

22.

Deputations

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B) of the Constitution.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that none were received.

RECOMMENDED ITEMS

23.

Revised Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003 pdf icon PDF 212 KB

Report of the Corporate Director of Community

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director, Community which set out the draft revised Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003.

 

Following questions and comments from Members, officers advised that:

 

·                     The Council participated in schemes such as the ‘Best Bar None Scheme’, which had introduced a level of professionalism within the licensed  trade.  There was no evidence to suggest that Harrow would benefit from a ‘cumulative impact’ policy which was aimed at limiting the number of premises licences granted.  Officers would continue to monitor and regularly inspect any ‘hot spots’ and licensed premises causing concern;

 

·                     with regard to imposing penalties and restrictions on licensed premises which breached their conditions, it was important to remember that there existed a statutory framework and guidance regarding this, which should be followed.  However, the Licensing Authority had discretion when imposing additional conditions following a Review Hearing;  

 

·                     if a Panel was of the view that the high number of licensed premises in an area would have a negative impact on the Licensing Objectives, then it could refuse to grant a new licence or an extension to an existing one;

 

·                     when considering any representations from objectors or reasons for refusal, it was important for a Licensing Panel to assess the relevance of the evidence or representation in relation to the Licensing Objectives;

 

·                     current regulations specified that an application for a licence must be on display in the licensed premises and be visible by the public from the street, as well as notification in a local newspaper and on the Council’s website.  If the Council were to amend this to require premises to have a second notice displayed outside the premises, this could have cost implications for the Council and would be going beyond the statutory requirements;

 

·                     a copy of the licence was sent to the home address of incoming Designated Premises Supervisors (DPS) so that they would be aware of the conditions they would be required to follow;

 

·                     Ward Councillors were as a matter of course informed of any new licence applications in their wards and were at liberty to share this information with their residents;

 

·                     the non-exhaustive list of factors (as set out in the officer report), which could be taken into consideration by a Licensing Panel, would help to make decision-making at Licensing Hearings more transparent and consistent. It was important to judge each case on its merits, and adding further conditions to the list of factors in paragraph 6.3 of the proposed draft policy may make the decision-making process too prescriptive and therefore less flexible;

 

·                     parking issues outside a licensed premises did not automatically fall within the remit of the Licensing Panel, however, any breaches should be reported to the relevant enforcement team;

 

·                     a Licensing Panel could take into consideration the previous track record (including any recent convictions) of the applicant, where relevant to the Licensing Objectives;

 

·                     Licensing Panels had the discretion to refuse an application for a new or varied licence even in an area where there were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.