To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023.

Decision

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023.

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing that presented a proposed final revision of the Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Committee had been invited to:

    i.   Review the responses received to the consultation and the proposed changes to the policy.

   ii.   Consider any recommendations by the Licensing Committee on final content of the policy.

  iii.   Recommend to Council to approve the policy for publication subject to any final changes required by this Committee.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented the report by proving an introduction to The Licensing Act 2003 that had come into effect on 24 November 2005 and the requirements this placed on each Licensing Authority to publish a statement of licensing policy to show how it intended to achieve the four licensing objectives.

The Principal Licensing Officer described that the policy was published for a five-year period although the licensing authority must keep its policy under review and make such revisions to it, at such times, as it considered appropriate.

The Principal Licensing Officer described that there were several issues that had gained further prominence since the last policy had taken effect, namely, Martyn’s Law and consideration of counter terrorism security measures at licensed premises; Agent of change; spiking, vulnerability in the Nighttime Economy (NTE), women’s safety, water safety and the increase in delivery services. These had been outlined and addressed within the draft policy to enable all relevant parties to understand what considerations they should make in each regard.

The Principal Licensing Officer referred to the consultation strategy that had been undertaken and provided a summary of the responses as detailed within the covering report and accompanying appendices.

The Principal Licensing Officer referred to the policy for Fallowfield and Withington, noting that this had been proposed to ensure that there was some increased scope for applications to be granted, subject to limitations. There was also concern about the saturation of hot food takeaways and issues of litter arising from them. It was recognised that in Fallowfield, there was a need to diversify the local sociable economy and there was a recognised local support for ensuring this. Similarly, in Withington, there was support for ensuring that there were opportunities for good operators to flourish and to promote vibrancy, within reason. The proposed NTE policy for Pubs, clubs and bars, including other primarily drinking establishments: changed from ‘Policy was to refuse except in exceptional circumstances” to “Applications will be considered on their merits having regard to the local area objectives”.

The Principal Licensing Officer summarised the key changes described in the Statement of Licensing Policy 2023 – 2028 that was appended to the cover report, noting that consideration had been given to the phases identified (Twilight/Evening Economy/NTE/Late Night Economy) but it was proposed to retain them as originally proposed:

·         Section 2 had been merged with previous Section 15 (Determining applications) to present the decision-making considerations at an earlier stage of the document. In turn, it is hoped  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.