Agenda item

Officers from Licensing and Pollution Control, Leicester City Council, will be in attendance to give details of a consultation in respect of licensing policy in Leicester.  Residents will have the opportunity to give views on the licensing arrangements in the Castle Ward.

Rachel Hall, Licensing Team Manager gave the meeting a presentation about the Council’s current review of licensing policy. Her presentation covered the following areas:-

-          What the licensing Policy covers – alcohol, entertainment, late night refreshment.

-          Details of the Council’s powers in relation to the 2003 Act.

-          An outline of the four licensing objectives, (prevention of crime, public safety, prevention of nuisance and protecting children from harm) which were the basis of all policy rules and decisions taken in relation to the policy.

-          Responsible authorities, who they were, (ie Police, Planning Authority) and their role.

-          Interested Parties, who they were, (ie local residents & business owners) and their role.

-          Some details about the licensing policy, how it could be altered and it’s limits.

-          The methods of consultation and what was being asked.

Residents could get further involved in the consultation in the following ways:-

- Filling in the consultation form at www.leicester.gov.uk/consultations

- Contacting the licensing team on 0116 252 8555 or by email licensing@leicester.gov.uk

- Writing to     Licensing

                        New Walk Centre

                        Welford Place

                        LE1 6ZG

Councillor Senior asked Rachel to explain the difference between the Licensing regime and the Planning regime.

Rachel explained that whilst they both dealt with the same issues, ie opening hours for a pub, they did it in different ways. Licensing focussed purely on the licensing objectives and Planning could look at wider issues ie the number of pubs in a street. There were separate enforcement procedures for both regimes. Rachel explained that it was a bit like driving a car, ie you need a driving license and road tax.

A resident enquired about enforcement powers in relation to opening hours.

Rachel explained that it wasn’t possible to zone an area so that all establishments closed at a specific time, each application would need to be considered separately on its merits. Once an establishment had it’s license in place, enforcement action could be taken if it broke the terms of its license, but clear evidence would be needed.

Councillor Kitterick asked Rachel to explain the ‘review’ process.

Rachel said that this was where one of the responsible authorities or interested parties could ask that the Council review the licenses of a premises. It was then advertised for 28 days, that this would be taking place, and after about 6 weeks a Licensing Hearing would take place. At this meeting, Councillors could decide to either: do nothing; modify the license, suspend the license, remove the designated premises supervisor or licensable activities, or revoke the license.

A resident enquired whether licensing powers could be used to encourage different types of establishments in different areas, ie some areas becoming more ‘café society’, perhaps this could be through the Best Bar None scheme.

Rachel said that this was being looked at as part of the policy review, but it wasn’t quite clear at the moment how it could be achieved. It was only possible to make suggestions or encouragement in the policy, there could be no specifying of what types of establishments opened in certain places. Each application would need to be considered on its own merits.

Queries were raised about the advertising of license applications. It was felt that they weren’t often displayed or visible, therefore people didn’t get an opportunity to comment on the application.

Rachel commented that a check was done to see that all applications were advertised in the Leicester Mercury, but it wouldn’t be possible, due to resources, to check that every application was properly advertised on site. Rachel further commented that she could look into the possibility of providing the public with email copies / or posting the weekly list of licensing applications on the internet. Rachel further commented that she would have some concerns about the Council putting the signs up themselves as it was done in Westminster. They faced legal difficulties when it wasn’t done correctly on one occasion. A resident commented that the public were legally allowed to take photos of where they felt that signs were not being displayed or any other transgression was taking place.

Councillor Kitterick asked those present if they had any views on ‘cumulative impact’; where the number of establishments in a given area had reached it’s natural limit.

Rachel explained that where an area was considered to have reached ‘saturation’ point, it was still possible for a new premises to open, but the applicant would have to demonstrate that the premises would cause no further detrimental impacts.

The following areas were proposed as having reached saturation point:-

- Queens Road

- Clarendon Park Road (for off licenses)

- Belvoir Street – (this area, it was felt was suffering a public nuisance from a loss of retail units and crime problems in the evening)

- Granby Street / London Road (for off licenses) – The number of off licenses, it was felt was adding to problems with regard to street drinking.

- No objections were raised to Churchgate retaining it’s current saturation status.

Rachel said that proper evidence would need to be provided to enable these areas to become saturation zones. She encouraged residents to provide clear evidence prior to the end of September to support the proposed areas. In response to a further question from Councillor Clayton, Rachel explained that a natural boundary containing all relevant premises would be considered where saturation zones were implemented.

Local resident, John Coster said that, as part of his journalist role, he had been out in the city with the Street Pastors until 3am one weekend. He was hoping to arrange another similar event with the Police coming along. Residents were welcome to come along to help develop some evidence. He was contactable at editor@citizenseye.org.

There were a number of comments about the debate between noise and vibrancy in the city centre.

One resident felt that Leicester was a quiet city and it would be detrimental to the city if people didn’t come in to the city centre, there needed to be vibrancy about the place. Councillor Kitterick commented that in some areas such as the Cultural Quarter, there needed to be more bars / restaurants to give the place more life. Another resident however said that living on New Walk meant that he was regularly awoken by younger people screaming, shouting and fighting late at night. He felt that bars were breaking the terms of the Best Bar None scheme by still serving people who were drunk.Another resident felt that the city had structurally changed; retail was now heavily focussed on the Highcross. Lots of professional companies were leaving the city, meaning that bars were filling the void or lower quality retail was moving in.

The meeting was also informed that the Police currently had an operation in place until the end of September, called Operation Lea, where people could report aggressive begging in the city centre. Incidents could be reported on 07979 045 4581. Some residents had commented that this had proved successful.

A resident commented further that case studies could be undertaken on other cities where people were encouraged to visit the city and a vibrant and family atmosphere had been achieved, including on Sundays.

Summing up

Rachel Hall encouraged people to make further comments either by sending them in, via email or the Council’s website.

A resident noted that everybody in the room seemed to be in agreement on what the issues were.

Councillor Kitterick, in summary noted that there were issues to be taken forward with regard to saturation zones, putting the best practices of bars into the policy and issues with regard to the display of license application notices.