Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Beacham, for whom Cllr Aitken was acting as substitute, Cllr Scott, for whom Cllr Baker was acting as substitute and from Cllr Edge.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business.   Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. It being a special meeting of the Committee, under Part Four, Section B, Paragraph 17 of the Council’s Constitution, no other business shall be considered at the meeting.

There were no items of urgent business.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at he commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member’s judgement of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

To inform Members of the forthcoming changes to the Licensing Act 2003 and the Premises Licences and Club Certificates Regulations 2005 with regard to minor variations and the requirements for Designated Premises Supervision Community Premises to be removed.

Joyce Golder, Legal Officer, presented a report to advise members of the changes to the Licensing Act 2003 and the Premises Licences and Club Certificates Regulations 2005 with regard to minor variations and the requirements for Designated Premises Supervision Community Premises to be removed, such changes having come into effect from 29 July 2009.

Further to a consultation by the DCMS, a new minor variations process had been introduced and the requirement for Community Premises to have a Designated Premises Supervisor had been removed. It was noted that the Council had responded to the consultation requesting that no changes be made to the system. The report gave details of the nature of the changes, and it was reported that any changes to conditions on a licence would be treated as a full variation, unless the overall impact of the condition remained unchanged, in which case the new minor variations process might be applied.  It was also reported that, where a new condition was mutually agreed by the licensee and responsible authority, the minor variations process might be followed. It was reported that the period for determination of any application under the new minor variations process was 15  working days, and that there was no right of appeal by the applicant. Representations could be made on an application, but these would be for the responsible authority to take into account in reaching their decision and not for the purposes of a hearing. The Committee was asked to approve the delegation of authority to the Head of Enforcement Services and the Licensing Lead Officer to grant or refuse minor variations under sections 41A to 41C and 86A to 86C of the Licensing Act 2003and under Statutory Instruments 2009/1772 and 2009/1809 and take all related procedural steps and decisions. The proposed amendment to the Officer Scheme of Delegation in the Council’s Constitution to reflect this recommendation were set out in the report, and the Committee was asked to request that Full Council adopt this amendment.

The Committee asked for clarification of whether live music could be added to a licence under the new minor variations process, in response to which the Licensing Officer, Ms Dale Barrett, reported that this would be possible but that the responsible officer would take into consideration representations from local residents and from the noise team on the impact of live music, in reaching a decision on such an application.

Ms Barrett clarified that the removal of the requirement for Community Premises the to have a Designated Premises Supervisor was a completely separate issue from the new minor variations process, and would have no impact on the employment of SIA-approved door supervisors. In response to a question from the Committee, it was clarified that Community Premises included premises such as community halls and venues managed by means of a committee and operated on a not for profit basis, and that examples of Community Premises in the borough included the Bernie Grant Centre and the Jacksons Lane arts centre.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.