Agenda item

The Council, as Licensing Authority under the Licensing Act 2003, is required to publish a Statement of Licensing Policy at least every five years. The purpose of the policy statement is to define how the Council will exercise its responsibilities under the Act. The draft policy has been prepared by officers, considered at an informal meeting of the Licensing Committee and has been published, in draft format, for a period of public consultation of 12 weeks.

The public consultation took place between 6^th July and 27^th September 2020.

The policy went before Place & Resources Overview Committee for comment on 19 October, and a verbal update will be given by officers at this meeting.

The reviewed Statement of Licensing Policy is before the committee for consideration prior to recommendation to Full Council for adoption.

The Service Manager for Licensing & Community Safety presented the Statement of Licensing Policy 2021-2026.   This policy was a statutory requirement for public entertainment and alcohol sales.  As with the Gambling Policy this was also a completely new draft for the new Dorset Council, following a review of all the predecessor councils’ policies.

The public consultation took place between 6th July and 27th September 2020.

The policy went before Place & Resources Overview Committee for comment on 19 October and a supplement with their comments was published and circulated prior to this meeting.  The reviewed Statement of Licensing Policy was before the committee for consideration prior to recommendation to Full Council for adoption.

A draft Equalities Impact Assessment was attached at Appendix D and a final version would be provided with the draft Statement of Licensing Policy, once approved, when it was presented to Council.

A review of the predecessor Council’s licensing policies showed that there

was one Cumulative Impact Area in existence in the centre of

Weymouth, within the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council area.

It was proposed to retain the existing Cumulative Impact Area in the new policy and up to date statistics had been included at Appendices B and C of the report, which indicated that there remained a negative cumulative impact of licensed premises and licensable activities within the area as previously identified. 

A total of 24 responses had been received during the consultation process.  Of the 24 responses, 16 were in favour of retaining the existing Cumulative Impact Area with 7 expressing a preference for it to potentially be expanded.

No respondents were in favour of removing the Cumulative Impact Area.

Amendments in the reports were highlighted and summarised and a set of model conditions had been included, which would prove useful when considering new applications.

In response to a member question relating to licensees the Service Manager for Licensing & Community Safety informed the committee that strict measures had been put in place by the Licensing Team.  Robust inspections of licensed premises were being regularly carried out, last weekend there had been 40 inspection visits.  The Council had revoked a licence recently and were following the Police ideology of Engage, Encourage and Explain and Enforce when necessary.

The matter of a Late-Night Levy had been raised by the Place & Resources Overview Committee.  The Service Manager, Licensing and Community Safety reported that a Late-Night Levy, if agreed, would apply all premises in the Dorset Council area, although there was the ability to exclude certain types of premises.  This was a controversial matter and opposed from an economic point of view.  This would be a matter for the committee to decide if they felt this was appropriate.  He would work with the Licensing Team Leader to prepare a summary report of the number of premises involved, those which may surrender their late night licence if the levy was introduced, the financial implications and how proceeds would be shared between the relevant authorities.  He would bring this report to the Licensing Committee at a later date.

Proposed by Cllr Jones, seconded by Cllr Taylor

Decision:  That following review of the responses received during the consultation period, the inclusion of the proposed amendments to the draft policy and consideration of the comments received from the Place & Resources Overview Committee, the Statement of Licensing Policy be recommended to Full Council for adoption.

The Chairman again thanked the Officers for a very good policy, the Place & Resources Committee for their input and the public for their responses to the consultation.