LICENSING COMMITTEE 25TH APRIL, 2005 Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee of the Flintshire County Council held at County Hall, Mold on Monday, 25th April, 2005. PRESENT: Councillor L.A. Sharps (Chairman) Councillors: S.R. Baker, D. Barratt, A.G. Diskin, B. Dunn, J.J. Griffiths, J.F. Jones, J. Ovens, P.J. Walkden and D.E. Wisinger. ALSO PRESENT: Councillor P.G. Heesom. IN ATTENDANCE: County Secretary, Licensing Manager and Principal Administration Officer. 22. MINUTES The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 24th January, 2005 were approved as a correct record. 23. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (Including Whipping Declarations) None were received. 24. UPDATE ON LICENSING ACT 2003 – APPLICATIONS RECEIVED The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment and Regeneration which was presented by the Licensing Manager. The purpose of the report was to update Members on the number of Licensing Act 2003 applications which had been received to date. The Committee were reminded that existing holders of Justices Licenses were able to convert and vary their licenses in the period between 7th February, 2005 and 6th August, 2005. It was noted that the expected influx of applications in the area during this period had not materialised and this had significant implications for the June and July period. The report identified the number of licenses which would have to be submitted by the given date. The Licensing Manager detailed the number of applications received to date and it was noted that although this was a small amount it was very similar to the experience of other local authorities in England and Wales and in fact was more than some of those authorities. The Licensing Manager referred in particular to an application for a take-away food premises for which relevant representations had been received from the Police and Planning Services. It was noted that discussions had been held with the applicant who was unwilling to amend his desired hours as applied for. In the circumstances it was necessary for a meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee to be arranged to consider this application. The report identified the relevant timescales in calling this hearing. With regard to general issue, there was a major point of concern that it appeared that there would be a large influx of applications during June and July. The Licensing Manager explained that his section was working hard to encourage potential applicants to apply in good time and he expanded upon the level of consultation that had been undertaken and the offers to assist applicants to complete the relevant documentation. The Licensing Manager acknowledged the complexity of the forms which had been prescribed by Central Government. For the benefit of Members he displayed examples of these forms. The Chairman shared the Licensing Manager’s concern regarding the level of applications that were likely to be received in a very short period of time and reminded the Committee of the proactive approach taken by the Council to bring to the attention of all the licensees’ requirement under Licensing Act 2003. In noting the report Members recorded their thanks to the Officers for the work undertaken to date. RESOLVED: That the report be noted. 25. COMMITTEE AND SUB-COMMITTEE HEARINGS The Committee considered the report of the County Secretary. The purpose of which was to advise Members of the range of options open to them in deciding upon the processes to adopt for the determination of licensing applications in accordance with the approved scheme of delegation. Also circulated at the meeting was a copy of the advice received from LACORS relative to reports being presented at the hearing. To assist Members, the County Secretary also circulated an additional paper relative to the Licensing Act 2003 which he explained was basically a distillation of his report submitted to the Committee. He also circulated a proposed procedure for the adoption relative to the Licensing Sub-Committee in hearing applications. In commenting upon this, the County Secretary referred to the significance of the item addressed in the previous report of the Licensing Manager relative to the need to arrange a hearing relative to a specific application. The County Secretary suggested that unless the Government timetables were altered there would be a significant bulge in applications as the deadline of 7th August 2005 for conversion applications became closer. In this respect the Committee would therefore have to consider whether or not to constitute one or more sub-committees to deal with the applications or whether to expressly delegate the ability to constitute sub-committees providing that their membership was selected from a designated pool of Members of the Licensing Committee, for the time being. He suggested that on this basis this option would in essence operate in much the same way as the Council’s current appeals panel which guaranteed maximum flexibility of the Council to meet hearing dates by almost guaranteeing the availability of sufficient elected Members to constitute the appropriate sub-committee. The report was detailed relative to the size and composition of sub-committee(s) and the County Secretary expanded upon the significance of each of these points. The County Secretary also reported upon the requirements for the procedures at hearings together with the advice received from LACORS. The significance of the Licensing Act 2003 was that Licensing Committees and Sub-Committees were free to determine their own procedures. However, on the advice received to date there was a distinct lack of clarity. There were four significant areas of principle that the Officers had identified for Members consideration and these were fully detailed in the report. The Committee then examined the procedure which had been circulated at the meeting and the County Secretary took Members through this point by point. He commented that there had to be a degree of flexibility and that the procedure could be amended with the benefit of experience. After discussing a number of technicalities the Committee concurred with the suggestion of the County Secretary that the Licensing Sub-Committee should consist of three Members selected from the pool of Members upon the Licensing Committee with a fourth on standby up until commencement of the hearing to ensure that the preferred number of three Members were present to make the decision. Members discussed the length of time relevant parties should be allowed to present their evidence and the suggested 30 minutes in the procedure identified by the County Secretary was accepted although some Members felt that 20 minutes should be sufficient but agreed that this was another issue that could be examined in the light of experience. RESOLVED: That the report be noted and that the County Secretary be authorised to establish licensing sub-committees of three Members drawn from the membership of the Licensing Committee and the proposed procedure for licensing sub-committees be adopted with interested parties being allowed 30 minutes each to present their evidence and on the basis that there was flexibility and that the procedure could be reviewed in the light of experience and commended as may be necessary by the County Secretary in consultation with the Chair. 26. DURATION OF MEETING The meeting commenced at 2.00 p.m. and ended at 2.50 p.m. …………………………. Chairman SUMMARY OF DECLARATIONS MADE BY MEMBERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S CODE OF CONDUCT LICENSING COMMITTEE DATE:25TH APRIL, 2005 MEMBERITEMMIN. NO. REFERS NO DECLARATIONS WERE MADE - 174 -
