The Head of Regulatory Services & Community Safety submitted the updated Statement of Licensing Policy to the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee on 4 February 2021.

The draft minutes of the Committee are available here. Cllr Cook, the Committee Chair, will propose the recommendations

Recommendation: the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee recommends that Council resolves to adopt the updated Statement of Licensing Policy to take effect in February 2021.

Council considered the report of the Head of Regulatory Services & Community Safety and the proposed updated Statement of Licensing Policy

Cllr Cook, the Chair of the Licensing & Gambling Acts Committee, proposed the recommendation without comment.

The recommendation was agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to adopt the updated Statement of Licensing Policy to take effect in February 2021.

The Head of Regulatory Services & Community Safety will submit a report to seek the Committee’s agreement to the revised Statement of Licensing Policy for public consultation.

This report will follow as a supplement.

Lucy Longford, Licensing Compliance Officer introduced the report. Taking into account the significant disruption to the night time economy caused by the current pandemic it was proposed to maintain the current policy for the forthcoming Council year, an approach supported by the Minister of State for Crime & Policing. The Policy before the Committee was therefore substantially the same with just minor changes of detail. It was however proposed to conduct a thorough review of the policy in 2021 to take full account of the consequences of the pandemic.

A response to the consultation which had preceded the report before the Committee had raised the lack of reference to the 2010 Equality Act. It was confirmed that consideration would be given to a more explicit reference to the Act as part of the forthcoming review.

The timescale for the review had yet to be confirmed but it was hoped that a draft would be ready for consideration by the Committee at its September meeting.