Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Edward Lord.

In relation to Item 7, Revd Dr Martin Dudley declared that he was a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) of a City premises. 

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 17 February 2014 (copy attached).

RESOLVED: That Members agree the minutes of the 17 February 2014 meeting as a correct record.

Matters Arising

It was noted that the Street Trading and Tables and Chairs policies would be submitted to the next Committee meeting.

RESOLVED: That Members note the public minutes of the following Licensing (Hearing) Sub Committee meetings.

The names of those representing the premises and applicant would be corrected to state that Leo Charalambides represented the applicant and that Ms Mary McKenna represented the premises.

The Comptroller & City Solicitor to be heard.

The Committee received an update from the Comptroller and City Solicitor informing Members that there had been no appeals against Licensing (Hearing) Sub Committee decisions.

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee received a report of the Director of the Markets and Consumer Protection informing Members of premises licences and variations to premises licences granted under the Licensing Act 2003 by the Licensing Service from 1 January 2014 to 31 March 2014. The report also presented data from the ‘traffic light’ risk scheme introduced within the City of London on 1 April 2013.

Members noted that the names of the premises who had reached the red and amber status had been tabled and would be discussed in the non-public session of the meeting.

RESOLVED – That Members note the contents of the report.

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection (To Follow).

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection which set out that the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 had introduced a power for licensing authorities to impose a Late Night Levy. Within the legislation there was a requirement to consult on various matters relating to a proposed levy prior to its introduction. The report highlighted that Members were informed of the proposed consultation process in a report to the Licensing Committee on 14 January 2013.

The Assistant Director, Environmental Health & Public Protection, explained that the City Corporation had now consulted on introducing such a levy with those persons licensed to sell alcohol after mid-night, licensing solicitors/barristers, Members, all other premises licensed to sell alcohol and relevant trade associations. There were 70 responses to the consultation, 34 were written responses and 36 responded online. 18 of these were from premises which currently had a licence to sell alcohol after mid-night, 16 from premises that currently had a licence to sell alcohol up to mid-night, 5 from residents, and 12 from Members (of whom 4 were residents) and 19 others. The ‘other’ category included trade representatives, solicitors and companies representing a number of licenced premises in the City of London.

It was noted that 67% of all respondents favoured the levy, with 27 of the premises selling alcohol after mid-night being represented in the responses, of which 70% were against the levy.

Appendices 4a – 4e of the report set out the full detailed responses.

The Assistant Director, Environmental Health & Public Protection, explained that the report requested Members to consider and decide whether the late night levy should be recommended to the Court of Common Council for adoption.

A discussion took place with reference being made to the following points:-

·     The Police Committee had

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection which detailed the Business Plan for 2014-17. The Business Plan identified some key achievements from the past year and set out what the department aimed to achieve this year, the standards that would be attained and where this fitted in with the corporate plans.

A discussion took place and a Member pointed out that the Key Performance Indicator’s (KPI’s) set out in the business plan should be more target based. The Director undertook to look at other output measures.

A discussion took place on the Licensing Service objectives and it was noted that the objective relating to the late night levy would be removed.

In response to a question by a Member, officers explained that the Street Trading policy was being submitted to the Port Health & Environmental Services Committee in May and thereafter would be submitted to this Committee. In relation to the Tables and Chairs policy a draft version was being progressed by officers and that the necessary consultation would take place with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman prior to being submitted to the next Committee meeting.

RESOLVED – That Members agree the contents of the report.

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection which provided details on the noise complaints enforcement service which operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, primarily to respond to noise complaints at night and weekends, but also to occasional reports of accidents, notifiable diseases including food poisoning and other urgent environmental health matters.

The Assistant Director, Environmental Health & Public Protection, explained that the previous arrangements included Westminster City Council providing a noise enforcement service alongside the Street Environment Officers (SEOs) from the Department of the Built Environment. He reported that the Port Health & Environmental Services Committee had agreed that the service would be brought in house which would provide better efficiency and had been in operation since the beginning of April 2014. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) had been agreed with the Department of the Built Environment to provide a one hour response time from when the complaint was received to a SEO arriving on-site.

Members and officers were grateful for the service and efforts which Westminster City Council had provided in the past.

RESOLVED – That Members note the contents of the report.

There were no questions.

Personal Licences

It was highlighted that personal licences were due to be renewed after the 10 year period in 2015 as a decision to retain these had been taken by Government.

Hector McKoy

The Chairman congratulated Hector McKoy who had recently been appointed as Chief Inspector and thanked his team for all their hardwork.

Licensing Committee Dinner

The Chairman thanked all those who had attended the Dinner and thanked Members and officers for their hardwork, efforts and support.

Tom Sleigh

The Chairman thanked Mr Sleigh, who would be leaving the Committee, for his support whilst serving on the Committee.

Licensing Breakfast, Francis Taylor Building

The Chairman made reference to the productive meeting which took place at the Francis Taylor Building where the code of best practice and traffic light scheme was discussed.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee thanked the Chairman for the Licensing Committee Dinner which had recently taken place.

Three items of business were raised by Members.